Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and Nagaland CM N Rio hold discussion with NSCN-IM leadership

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, along with Nagaland chief minister N Rio, held a discussion with the NSCN-IM leadership on Tuesday.

Sarma said Union home minister Amit Shah has given him the go-ahead to hold preliminary talks with militant outfit anti-talk Ulfa. Sarma, the convenor of Northeast Democratic Alliance (NEDA) tweeted, “Adarniya PM Sri @narendramodi and Adarniya HM Sri @AmitShah are committed to ensure ever-lasting peace in the North East. At Dimapur today, we held a discussion with NCSN (IM) representatives in presence of Nagaland HCM Sri @Neiphiu Rio about the ongoing peace talks with GoI.”

Himanta tweeted, “we are all keen that the ongoing Peace Talks fructify into concrete results soon. I also discussed the political scenario in Nagaland with HCM as well the upcoming Nagaland Assembly elections, and @NEDAIndia role in it.”


Anti-talk Ulfa, also known as Ulfa (independent), has declared ceasefire responding to the peace overtures of the Assam government.

Sarma said, “Assam government had maintained communication with Ulfa chief Paresh Baruah and now Union home minister has allowed me to hold dialogue if there is any scope directly.”

After almost two years, formal talks have started between the government of India and NSCN-IM.

Former special director of the Intelligence Bureau, AK Mishra and the NSCN (I-M) leadership led by Th Muivah met in Dimapur on Monday.

Senior NSCN (I-M) leader Rh Raising told a local television channel, “We reaffirmed our commitment to the Framework Agreement in letter and spirit. After Covid-19 pandemic, talks have resumed. The Government of India has sent us a letter stating that Mishra will hold talks.”

Recently, the previous interlocutor of Naga peace talks, Nagaland governor RN Ravi, was shifted to Tamil Nadu. Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi has been given additional charge of Nagaland.

Ravi and NSCN-IM were at loggerheads on different issues, including the interpretation of the Framework Agreement of 2015. NSCN-IM had earlier opposed Ravi when he inked an agreement with the seven-member Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs). NSCN-IM had last year refused to hold discussions with Ravi and instead chose to have informal discussion with IB officials.

NSCN-IM has been demanding a separate flag and Constitution which the government of India had rejected.