Morung Express News
Dimapur | December 14
Amidst growing tension between the ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF) and Opposition Congress over Election 2013 in Nagaland, the BJP has postured itself as to woo the Eastern constituencies. In that, it has promised an alternative to politics in Nagaland itself. BJP national President Nitin Gadkari on his first visit to Nagaland today said that BJP and its allies will provide an alternative to the Congress and NPF in Nagaland. Gadkari said this while addressing separate public meetings in Mon and Tuensang.
“Nagaland attained statehood in 1963. It should not have remained like this for 49 years,” he said at Mon Town Hall today pointing to the severe lack of economic development in the Eastern districts of Nagaland. “Both Congress and NPF have failed the Naga people.”
In recent history, the BJP had facilitated the formation of Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh states. In all three cases, BJP MLAs had predominantly held seats in these pockets which were then part of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh respectively.
Gadkari’s visit, organized by the Nagaland state unit of the BJP, was coordinated by the Eastern Naga Peoples’ Organisation (ENPO) and Konyak Union (KU) in Mon, while he was hosted by Chang Khulei Setshang (CKS) President Kaimang Chang at the public ground in Tuensang. He was accompanied by Tapir Gao, BJP national General Secretary and Nagaland In-charge, Chandrashekar Rao, Zonal General Secretary (Organisation) Northeast, and M Chuba Ao President, BJP Nagaland.
Though his Eastern hosts (including Pongom Khiamniungan and Toshi Wungtung) broached the topic of statehood at the programs, Gadkari said that he had met the ENPO team in Delhi too, and that economic development of the area is essential. The matter, said Gadkari, will be looked into on his return to Delhi, adding that the BJP is committed to the development of the people of Nagaland.
It may be mentioned here that while the BJP has time and again slammed the UPA and NPF led DAN government for not being serious about the ‘Naga peace process’, it has also assured the Eastern districts under ENPO a separate state if it comes to power after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Being the principle opposition party, the BJP is not in a position to make decisions but has called for ‘socio-economic negotiations’ parallel to ‘political negotiations’.
Vice President of the Nagaland unit of the BJP, Johnny G. Rengma, informed that Gadkari landed in Dimapur on a chartered flight, from where a helicopter took him to Tuensang at 10.30 am, where he observed the dance troupes of Chang, Khiamniungan and Yimchungru communities. After his address, the BJP President reached Mon at 12.50 pm by the same mode. He departed for Dibrugarh at 2.30 pm from where he took a chartered flight back to New Delhi.
