Morung Express News
Dimapur | February 18
NDPP candidate from the 3 Dimapur III Assembly seat, Hekani Jakhalu, addressed a campaign rally at Doyapur on February 18, where the NDPP's star campaigner, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, also spoke. The rally served as the official kick-off of Jakhalu's campaign in the constituency.
In her address, Jakhalu maintained that she was standing for election with a vision to uplift the constituency. She said that she was particularly concerned for the minority communities of the constituency, a concern she added was one of her 4 development visions. He vision, she informed rests on four points— Youth empowerment, women empowerment, turning 3 Dimapur III into a model constituency and fighting for the minority community,” while putting emphasis on her commitment to their empowerment. “This, however, should not be my vision alone. It should be the collective vision of the people of the constituency. We are in this fight together,” she maintained.
According to her, the minority Kachari community of Dhansiripar area has been living in fear for so long and that the time was opportune to get rid of the fear through her as their representative. “I also relate to what it feels like to be a minority because I have lived and experienced the life of a minority when I worked outside the state,” she said.
While stating that women in Nagaland feel like a minority, despite making up half of the population, she said that one of her primary goals will be to pursue women-centric policies.
On her taking the electoral plunge and joining the NDPP, she said that she related to the Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio’s vision, particularly, youth empowerment. She said that she was working as a lawyer in Delhi in 2005 but decided to return to Nagaland to eventually establish YouthNet. “The years went on and then I realised that being an NGO worker can only do so much. I realised that to make a bigger impact, I have to enter electoral politics,” she said of her decision to join politics.
Chief Minister Rio spoke about the challenges facing Nagaland, particularly the ongoing Naga political issue. With the Naga issue unresolved, he said that the Naga people are squashed in between. In such a circumstance, he said that the NDPP-BJP alliance was formed with the goal of facilitating a solution to the Naga issue. Describing the NDPP as “regional in character, national in outlook and thinks and acts global,” he said that allying with the BJP was to Nagaland’s advantage. “The BJP also recognises the uniqueness of the Naga political problem and can bring a solution to the issue. The BJP also respects the unique tradition and cultural sentiments of the Nagas,” he said.
He added that unlike other national parties, which turn up only during elections, the BJP is committed to addressing the challenges faced by Nagaland.
He also said that the 2023 Assembly elections will be a historic one with Nagaland seeing the first woman MLA. He said, “We will vote on February 27 and count the votes on March 2. On March 2, be on the right side of history.”
He further said that the elections to the Urban Local Bodies are scheduled to be notified in March after the elections.
One this note, he said that the time has come to make space for reservation of seats for women in the ULBs.
