The rendition of the number We Shall Overcome Some Day by hundreds of Naga students greeted NSCN-IM General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah on his arrival in New Delhi after two years on Wednesday.

Giving a boost to the flagging Naga spirits, the rhetoric was clear. They will settle for nothing less then a Greater Nagalim.

"The history of the Nagas is very clear to us. It is unique. Because we were never a part of the Indian Constitution, either by conquest of the Indian armed forces or by consent of the Nagas. And this truth is historic and cannot be distorted for the convenience of either the Government of India or anyone else," Muivah said.

Muivah will be free to visit Dimapur, but he has also planned a January trip to the adjoining Thangkhul-dominated areas of Manipur to whip up the Greater Nagalim issue.

And with elections around the corner, the government isn't taking any chances. The Muivah base of the Thangkhul Nagas will give the Congress a run for its money in the state where the political cauldron is already on the boil.

The Naga leader's arrival has given a boost to the Naga cause, but as far as the government is concerned, the visit has come at an extremely inopportune moment, when the crucial Assembly elections in Manipur are around the corner.