Kohima, March 31 (MExN): The Chief Minister’s Office today jibed back at the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee stating that the Congress party has been made redundant by “their fault”.
The CMO was reacting to the NPCC statement claiming that the Dr. Shurhozelie Liezietsu had become the Chief Minister by “default”. “It would appear that the Congress party has been made redundant in today’s context by “their fault” and by no fault of anyone else when all its legislators and senior leaders parted ways with it leaving a few rejects to man the organization,” the CMO responded back in a lampooning statement.
Taking the ridicule further, the CMO insisted that the NPCC must be appreciated by one and all regardless of political affiliations for admitting in the local media this morning that it has now been reduced to a mere “idea”.
“It takes sheer courage, and also extenuating circumstances, for a political party to publicly admit that it is headed for political oblivion,” it taunted.
Pointing to the political misfortunes of the Congress party in the recent past, the CMO stated that it should not come as a surprise to anybody that in the near future this “idea” of a political party would become a “faint memory”.
Further stating that the Congress party knows best how it is to have communal or secular masters in Delhi since its High Command is based there, the CMO argued, “As far as the NPF party and NPF-led DAN Government, the people are its High Command and the Party and the Government is answerable to the people.”
“If Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu has now become the Chief Minister it is because of Constitutional provisions and Parliamentary procedures, and not through backdoor or front door, as alleged by the Congress party,” the CMO maintained and argued that no one ever considered Manmohan Singh becoming the Union Finance Minister of the Country in 1991 as backdoor when he had to be hurriedly elected from Assam as a Rajya Sabha member.
The CMO also cited the case of former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao becoming the Prime Minister without being a member of either House of Parliament and had to contest in a by-election Nandyal constituency in Andhra Pradesh.
It accused the Congress party of having “selective amnesia” when it comes to its own history, or the heinous acts committed during its regimes such as the Anti-Sikh Riots of 1984, “where its leaders acted more fanatical than communal elements it avers to”, or the “darkest era” the nation went through during the Emergency declared by the Congress Government at the Centre in 1975.
Claiming that the allegation that Dr Shurhozelie “ditched” his party in 1999 to contest the parliamentary elections “clearly shows” the selective amnesia of the Congress party, the CMO reminded the “treachery on the Naga people” by the Congress party which did not heed the call of the people to solve the Naga political problem and not to hold or participate general elections in 1998. The call was obeyed by all other political parties in Nagaland except the Congress which went ahead to file nomination papers in most of the Constituencies and won uncontested.
“As a result of not participating in the 1998 elections for the sake of the Naga peace process, the Election Commission of India “froze” the party symbol of the NPF (then NPC),” the CMO stated and insisted that to “salvage the regional party and regain its party symbol”, Dr Shurhozelie made the “supreme sacrifice” of contesting as an Independent candidate against the ruling Congress Candidate “knowing very well that the chances of winning were very slim”.
“For records, Dr Shurhozelie secured 1, 62, 521 votes and could redeem the party symbol,” the CMO informed. “If it had paid heed to the clarion call of the Naga people then, the Naga political problem might have been given more importance by the Government of India earlier, and perhaps, the Congress party might not have been pushed to the political oblivion it is in now, especially here in Nagaland,” the CMO concluded.
