New Delhi: While Union home minister Amit Shah had come out in support of the Army’s December 4 killing of civilians in Nagaland’s Mon district by making the controversial statement in Parliament that the special forces had opened fire at them only because they tried to “flee”, five of those seriously injured in that night’s firing belong to his party, Mon district president of the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), Nwayang Konyak, pointed it out to The Wire.

“Perhaps what has not been told to him (Shah) is that five of the injured in the second round of firing on December 4 evening by the special forces on civilians are BJP karyakartas. Several of us went out in search as eight persons from our village, Oting, didn’t return home that evening from work and by then we heard gunshots. When we reached the spot, the special forces opened indiscriminate firing at all of us; our karyakartas were injured in that firing. All of those party men seriously injured that evening are still in hospital,” Nwayang told this correspondent.

Stating that he is travelling to Dimapur town of the state “today” (December 17) from Mon to meet three of them admitted in hospital there (because “after all, they are our karyakartas”), Nwayang said that the two others “are getting treated at the Mon civil hospital itself”.

He also pointed to the death of a young local BJP leader “due to the Army firing” on December 5.

Watch: Two Former Deputy Chiefs Say Army Should Apologise for Nagaland Killings

“On December 5 firing at the Assam Rifles camp in Mon, we also lost our (BJP) Scheduled Tribe Morcha Mon district president Leiong Konyak. He was present there as a party worker, trying to control the public which was by then very angry at the killing of the unarmed civilians the night before and Army personnel trying to hide their bodies. That is why we, as party people, are hurt after hearing our top leader Amit Shah telling a lie in Parliament on December 6. We know it was a lie, we know our people didn’t try to flee, because we were soon at the spot,” he said.

A Dimapur-based state BJP executive member, who wanted to remain anonymous, told The Wire, “It has been nearly two weeks now. But not just the public in Oting but several of our executive members are still very upset not only with Amit Shah ji’s statement but also with the state BJP president Temjen Imma Along because they feel that he failed to stand up for our people in front of the party’s central leadership on this issue.”

“We fear that there may be electoral cost for us for this goof-up in that area. Mind you, unlike several parts of Nagaland, the BJP doesn’t need to fight hard in Eastern Nagaland belt to win elections. We have two MLAs from there. One of them is a two-time BJP minister Paiwang Konyak. Phangon Konyak, the state BJP Mahila Morcha president, also comes from Oting village. And yet, BJP voters there are now screaming ‘Go back Amit Shah’ and burning his effigy in public rallies. The Oting villagers have openly said that our state president would be roughed up if he dares to visit the area,” the BJP executive member related in a telephonic chat.

Though on December 5, the state BJP president had in a public statement equated the killing of the 13 civilians on December 4 evening with “war crimes” and “genocide”, he had to step back in line after the central leadership was unhappy with it. The statement tweeted from the Nagaland BJP handle was soon deleted.

A day later, on December 6, Shah made the statement in Parliament in support of the Army which angered members of public and several party members in Nagaland. There have been cries of ‘Go back Indian Army’ in public rallies since.

Lying low, Temjen Imma Along decided to skip the funeral of those killed at Mon on December 6 even though leaders of the other political parties including the state chief minister and NDPP leader Neiphu Rio were present. “Not even a condolence message came from the state unit or the state party president. Myself, Phangon and the Mon MLA (Paiwang Konyak) as local leaders of BJP have been standing with the people in Mon but the absence of the state leadership at the funeral and then not visiting the victim families at Oting was noticed by all,” Nyawang said.

In what seemed like a damage control move, on December 9, state party general secretary Eduzo Theluo announced the formation of a 15-member party team to visit Oting. The official letter seen by The Wire categorically stated that Temjen Imma Along had “constituted” the team of state office bearers to visit Mon district and “show our solidarity to the bereaved family (s) members and Konyak community in connection to the killing of civilians on December 4”.

“Nine or ten of that 15-member team came to our village on December 12. We, the village council members, decided to welcome them to Oting only in their personal capacities to offer their condolences to us, not as party representatives. We told them clearly that had the state president of the BJP come with them, we would not have allowed him inside the village. We demand his resignation for not standing with the people,” Chinwang, the deputy angh (village chief) of Oting, told The Wire.

Also read: Survivors of Nagaland Army Ambush, Their Families Barred From Speaking to Media

The state party leaders were, however, not allowed to meet the victim families, he underlined. “Instead, they went to Mon civil hospital and met those injured in the December 5 violence at the Assam Rifles camp,” a local BJP leader said.

While the family members of the deceased have said they would not accept the state government’s compensation and instead want the guilty to be punished, Chingwang said a meeting of the village council held on December 13 took a resolution to also demand that the state government pressurise the Centre to remove the draconian law Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from Nagaland. “Also, please mention that we are very upset with Amit Shah’s statement. It is a dishonour to our people. There were no check gates inside the forests; our villagers were not signalled to stop by the Army; just fired at directly; that’s how they died,” Chingwang added.

In the last few years, the BJP have been successful in creating a voter base in not just Mon but three other neighbouring districts – Tuensang, Longleng and Kiphire – primarily on the basis of the promise to fulfil their longstanding demand for a separate state of Frontier Nagaland. Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO), the apex body of the Nagas in that belt which has been spearheading the statehood demand, has been in consultation with the Narendra Modi government for some years now on the matter.

ENPO president Tsapikiu Sangtam told The Wire, “Our last meeting on the issue was on November 17, with minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai in New Delhi. We have had several meetings with the Ministry of Home Affairs by now.”

He said, “We have submitted all our recommendations to the ministry; everything is complete from our side but the government needs to take the matter to Parliament. On November 17, we urged minister Rai to take it to the present session of Parliament and get its approval. He said he would take it up first with the Union cabinet for approval but we have not heard anything from the Modi government after that."

On December 16, ENPO took out “protest rallies” in each of the four districts of eastern Nagaland. “We want to put some pressure on the state government’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) to deliver justice to the victims’ families. The SIT has been given one month’s time to submit its report but it may get delayed too. We don’t want any delay to happen. People are waiting for justice,” he said.

Also read: Nagaland Killings: English Newspaper Editorials Slam AFSPA, Question Army's 'Logic'

Post the December 4 incident, ENPO is also demanding the repeal of AFSPA. “The Army may say it wants the Act to do counter insurgency operations but if that law is also allowing the security forces to kill innocent unarmed civilians, then it needs to be repealed,” he said.

The ENPO president also pointed out a vital ground reality: “The Army has said that it was in a counter insurgency operation that evening against the NSCN (Khaplang) group, which is based across the border (Myanmar) and is not in a ceasefire agreement with India government. But the people in our region neither pay any tax to that armed group nor allow them entry into the area on the Indian side. So that group doesn’t come to our area.”

Meanwhile, sensing strong public sentiment against the Army killings across Nagaland and the growing demand, therefore, for repeal of AFSPA, the Nagaland assembly has called for a special session on the matter this December 20.

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