The Khaplang faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) might be heading for another split after 2011 as two expelled senior leaders are planning to launch a new Naga political group.
Wangtin Naga and P Tikhak, who were expelled from NSCN(K) on Saturday, have said their new party will work for peace and national reconciliation and build a better society for the Naga people.
"We feel that we are free to give our contribution, however small it may be, in building a new and better Naga society," the two leaders said in a joint statement yesterday.
Wangtin Naga was the supervisor of the Ceasefire Supervisory Board of NSCN(K), while P Tikhak was a senior functionary of the party before being expelled.
Their expulsion order said, "It has been established beyond doubt numerous instances of (the two leaders) hatching conspiracies with India to destabilise the Naga cause."
Reacting to their expulsion, the two leaders said, "If this expulsion is serving the interest of the Naga people, if it is serving the interest of peace we are prepared to take hundreds of such expulsions."
"Party chairman S S Khaplang was misguided by power-mongers and money-mongers and he simply forgot all our contributions for the people of eastern Nagaland and for the NSCN," their statement said.
This could be the second split within NSCN-K after it entered into ceasefire with Government of India in 2001. The first split occurred on June 7, 2011, when two leaders of the Khaplang faction formed NSCN (Khole-Kotovi) because of ideological differences.
