IMPHAL: In the face of NSCN (IM) leadership's Naga integration stance and the renewed demand for a separate Kuki state advocated by a Kuki pressure group, Manipur deputy chief minister Gaikhangam on Tuesday said the state could not be divided by any demand.
If any reasonable demands are put up, the government will discuss them for consideration. But any issue, which will slice Manipur into pieces, will not be taken into account and that every section of the society living in harmony in Manipur will also not allow to disintegrate the state, said Gaikhangam, who also holds the home portfolio.
"Both the central and the state government will not entertain or consider any demand to break Manipur and that the state government has its firm stance to safeguard Manipur's territorial integrity," Gaikhangam told reporters on the sidelines of a felicitation programme accorded to him for being appointed as the deputy CM by Autonomous District Council members of Tamenglong district at Raigailong in Imphal west on Tuesday.
The Naga minister, who is also the president of Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee, said the state government had full confidence to the commitments given by the central leaders that Manipur's territorial integrity would be protected.
On December 3 last year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at a huge public rally in Imphal that the Centre was committed to safeguard Manipur's territorial integrity. In the presence of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the Prime Minister said there was no proposal of "supra state" structure for the Nagas.
Integration of all Nagas living in the northeast under one geographical and administrative entity is said to be one of the key agendas featured in the reported final stage of the 15-year-old NSCN (IM)-Centre talks.
On the other hand, the United Naga Council (UNC) is fast campaigning for an alternative administrative arrangement for the Nagas in Manipur outside the state government pending the Naga political solution.
The Kuki State Demand Committee (KSDS), gearing up its demand for creation of a separate Kuki state, has called an indefinite road block in all state and national highways passing through Kuki-inhabited areas in Manipur from Thursday evening.
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