H Kham Khan Suan, “Adding fuel to the fire”, The Hindu, New Delhi, 9 August 2013 1 /3| Page August 09, 2013 01:37 IST Lead Opinion Adding fuel to the fire By H. Kham Khan Suan http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/adding-fuel-to-the-fire/article5004098.ece The Centre has sought to curb Nagaland’s constitutional right to regulate petroleum and natural gas extraction, ignoring its special status under Article 371A Nagas are agitated over what they perceive as the Centre’s “threat” to override the exceptional status they enjoy under Article 371A of the Constitution. On June 13, Veerappa Moily, the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, asked the Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) to withdraw the Nagaland Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulation, 2012 (NPNGR) that it framed within the ambit of Article 371A. Taking a serious note of Mr. Moily’s request, the Nagaland government held a consultative meeting with various sections of civil society on July 12. The meeting resolved to not only reject Mr. Moily's request but also demand that the GoI implement the unfulfilled clauses of the Sixteen Point Agreement, 1960, and place Nagaland under the Ministry of External Affairs. This may set up a new confrontation with the Central government. Mr. Moily’s request and the earlier stand taken by M. Ramachandran, Minister of State for Home Affairs, in a response to an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha on March 12 — that “any resolution” passed by the NLA “seeking to revoke/remove the applicability of a law, the enactment of which lies within the sole domain of Parliament, is ultra vires” — was seen by many in Nagaland as a move to betray a negotiated agreement which entrenched Naga exceptionalism in India’s federal polity.