NSCN leaders retract RSS-related statement on former Nagaland CM

Two senior leaders of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) have retracted their September 16 statement on former Nagaland Chief Minister S.C. Jamir after he met with Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

The NSCN is better known by its non-preferred name, the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, or NSCN (I-M). The armed group has been in a ceasefire agreement with the Centre since mid-1997.

V.S. Atem, the NSCN’s Deputy Ato Kilonser (Prime Minister), and R.H. Raising, a member of the group’s Steering Committee, withdrew their views in a joint statement issued on Tuesday (October 6, 2026). The retraction followed a 15-day deadline set by the Ao Senden, the top body of the Ao Nagas, to take back their views on Mr. Jamir.

A five-time Chief Minister, the 94-year-old Mr. Jamir belongs to the Ao community. He met Mr. Bhagwat in New Delhi on September 10 and urged him to press the Centre for an early political settlement of the Naga peace process.

Six days later, the two NSCN leaders questioned Mr. Jamir’s authority to speak on the issue, asserting that the former Chief Minister was not an advocate of the Naga people.

Reacting to their views a few days later, the Ao Senden warned them that it would be “compelled to take its own course of action in the interest of the Nagas” if they did not withdraw their comments within a stipulated time.

The Ao Senden said that the Naga political issue was not the sole domain of any individual, group or faction. It also said that differences that cropped up during the decades-long political journey should not prevent individual Nagas from expressing their views on the issue.

“If our comments on S.C. Jamir have hurt the sentiment of the Ao Senden, it was never meant to do so and therefore, we do retract it forthright,” the two NSCN leaders said.

The NSCN signed the Framework Agreement with the Centre in August 2015, but a final settlement has remained elusive. Its rival faction, the NSCN (Khaplang), signed a bilateral ceasefire agreement with the Centre in April 2001, but abrogated it unilaterally in March 2015.

The Naga National Political Groups, a coalition of at least six other Naga extremist groups, signed the Agreed Position with the Centre in November 2017. Their agreement is believed to be softer for New Delhi.

The NSCN’s insistence on a separate Naga flag and constitution and the cultural integration of Naga-inhabited areas in the northeastern region is said to be delaying the final settlement of the Naga political issue.