Dimapur, June 18 (MExN): The Central Nagaland Tribes Council (CNTC) today extended fullest support to the Nagaland Tribes Council’s (NTC) statement, which maintained that the Nagas never gave their endorsement to any particular group or faction to collect tax or to solve Naga issue except the Plebiscite of 1951 under the aegis of NNC. It further reiterated that any solution should be inclusive of all groups and content of the Framework Agreement should be acceptable to all sections of the Nagas.
In a press release, CNTC also stated that the NSCN (IM)’s claim that it has the right to collect taxes from the people does “not hold any ground,” while condemning the threat issued by NSCN (IM) to the ACAUT Nagaland and people of Wokha with regard to taxation.
“The common people have been overburdened by the taxes of so many different groups in the name of nationalism. The endurance of the Naga people is now ebbing away and their patience has been more than once tested time and again which is going to blow up at any moment if corrective and restrictive measures are not taken at the earliest,” CNTC stated.
Meanwhile, the CNTC asked where the Naga Political Groups (NPGs) will stand today if another referendum like the historic Plebiscite of 1951 is held again. “The NPGs should learn from their bitter experiences of the past of what happened in Mokokchung and Mukalimi when the wrath of the public could no longer be held back and stopped by any forces which were ignited due to the continuous misbehavior against the people’s sentiments and wishes of the Naga public.” The release stressed that without the people’s support, NPGs will never survive. “If they (NPGs) continue to irk the public by issuing threats, summons and warnings the writing on the walls are very obvious that Nagaland will witness more bloodshed in the days to come,” it added.
At the same time, CNTC wondered why the other apex bodies like Naga Hoho, NSF, and NMA are all silent “when the common people have sacrificed on the altar of these NPGs greed for such a long time.” “Don’t they have any pity for the common men’s plight? Can these organizations not stand up for the rights and justice for the people?” it questioned.
Stating that the NPGs must feel and understand the pulse of the common people and right the wrongs before things go out of control, CNTC reiterated that no revolutionary organization, however much powerful and dictatorial they are, can ever survive without the support of the people. “It is now high time to listen to the grumblings of the people and not take them for granted as if they know nothing; people are a lot much wiser than once upon a time. In the name of nationalism besides collecting taxes there’s a question that has cropped up in the minds of many Nagas today - what have the NPGs contributed to the society so far?” It maintained that there is a wide contradiction between the perspective of the past and the present national workers.
“National movement must be in the interest of the people concerned and should be equally beneficial to all, but instead, it has now ended up making the common masses dry to the bone by extorting at gunpoint while making some stinking rich at the expense of the common masses,” CNTC claimed. Saying that the “NPGs should not try to bite the hand that feeds them in their sheer arrogance and pride,” the release asserted that any objective should not be by forceful imposition on its own people otherwise it surely will have reversal of implications. “Henceforth, the voice of the people should not be misinterpreted rather it must be respected.”
Further, CNTC said that the ‘One Government One Tax'', which ACAUT has been propagating lately, is the desire of all Nagas. It expressed hope that the Naga leaders in various organizations will reciprocate to the appeal without any delay. “If NPGs do not listen to the voice of Naga people, then whom will we say they are fighting for?”
