Demand for PDA to step down justified: NPF

Kohima, July 13 (MExN): The Naga People’s Front (NPF) on Monday issued a statement, justifying its call for the PDA Government to step down on moral grounds.

Asserting its prerogative as the opposition party, the NPF Press Bureau said that the call for ruling dispensation to step down is “justified and is neither unconstitutional nor illegal as alleged by the ruling party, considering the ineptitude of the PDA Government and its agencies in handling the COVID-19 related issues and the pathetic failure to address public grievances that were fallouts from the mismanagement of the pandemic.”

“The reluctance of the Naga public to be more vocal and forceful in voicing their disapproval towards the Government due to the pandemic enforced lockdown should not be misconstrued as public contentment or approval of the of the PDA government,” it said.

The NPF also claimed that “due to inefficiency on many parts of the state Government and its machinery, the cases of COVID positive is rising each day and slowly entering into community transmission.”

Further, the party said it was “surprised” to see several press statements of the PDA alliance expressing “smooth and cordial relationship within the alliance, whenever the NPF raises its concern over issues of public importance.”  The NPF is never interested in the state of their relationship or the instability of the present Government, it said, while adding that “the NPF will continue to exercise its prerogative as the opposition party by expressing its genuine concern over the conduct of affairs in the state.”

The NPF iterated that the Governor himself “had categorically pointed out his distrust of the present Government stating there is no semblance of governance and expressed the loss of his confidence with the present Government,” and added that the NPF is in no way trying to create any rift between the PDA alliance partners. Stating that the “clear evidence is in the hands of the public,” the party advised the ruling party “not to dredge up unnecessary and unwarranted accusations on the Opposition but instead, focus on their duty of efficiently and competently tackling the pertinent issues at hand and providing good governance to the people of Nagaland.”

Meanwhile, the NPF expressed anguish over the recent killings of NSCN (IM) cadres in Arunachal Pradesh stating that “any aggressive action by either side of the party would only derail the hard earned peace.”

“When the general public is eagerly waiting for the honorable solution to the Naga political problem at any moment, such actions will only hamper the political negotiation,” it said while appealing all the stake-holders in the political negotiations to expedite the political process so that a mutually agreed settlement is brought about at the earliest.