DIMAPUR, MARCH 2 (MExN): Nagaland State Chief Minister, Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu today underlined the need for the hills people to have a common platform to amplify their aspirations, and termed the NPF as such a platform.
Addressing NPF elections campaigns today at Chandel and Ukhrul district headquarters, the Nagaland CM, who is also NPF President, stated that the party stands for the conglomeration of the entire people of the Hill districts of Manipur. The CM also revealed that political parties from as far as Jharkhand have approached to join the NPF, but added that he has “decided to go slow for the moment.”
Dr Shurhozelie lamented that the inability of the 20 legislators from the hill districts to come together on a single platform has “prevented the representatives to speak out in one voice and one mind when they attend the Assembly sessions in Imphal.”
“The 20 Legislative Assembly Constituencies in the hill districts of Manipur have been represented by hills people for the last 40 years or so. But since they belong to different political parties they become strangers to each other when they come to the Manipur Legislative Assembly and they could not have the same voice since there was no platform for them to come together at that point of time. We believe that by introducing the NPF in Manipur we have provided the much-needed platform to the people of these 20 Constituencies,” he said.
While acknowledging that the NPF stands for integration of contiguous Naga areas, he stated: “we have to go through a democratic and legally-correct process which may take some time.” He however expressed optimism that sooner or later “integration will be a reality.”
The Nagaland CM also iterated the NPF’s aim to play the role of a peace-maker among the different sections. “Not only to the different sections of the people of the hill districts but even to the different factions of the underground.
We have so many outfits, so many insurgency groups in the Northeast, especially Nagaland and Manipur. We do not know all their political agendas, but unless they come together, they cannot achieve anything. Therefore, one of our aims is to be the bridge between the various underground groups,” he said and appealed to all groups to unite for the sake of the people and renounce violence in all forms.
Expressing belief that the different communities of the hill districts and the valley have been and would continue to live together as neighbours, the Nagaland CM criticised his Manipur counterpart for “playing a communal card for political gains” and stated that his party is “against anyone who encourages communalism.”
“We want to see all the different communities live together in peace and harmony. We stand for peace and we will continue to play for peace. We want to live in complete harmony with all our neighbours,” he said.
Echoing the Chief Minister, Nagaland Minister in Charge of NPF Manipur Unit, Yitachu said that “NPF is not participating in the Manipur elections just for the sake of participating, but we are serious on finding a solution to the Naga political problem.”
He said that the Congress in Manipur has “let down the people of the hill districts all these years” and predicted that the Congress would “lose this time round because of Ibobi, because of the party’s policy against the Naga peace process and because of its policy against the tribal people.”
