DIMAPUR, SEPTEMBER 26 (MExN): The Opposition Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has pointed out that the statement of Imkong L. Imchen, the State Home Minister was not only a “contradiction of the Joint Legislature Forum’s (JLF) resolution but also exposed the double-standard stand of the NPF”. “Wasn’t the JLF resolution for solution before the 2013 State general election? If the Home Minister says election will be held as scheduled, what was the need for JLF resolution?” the NPCC has stated in a press note issued by its media cell.
The NPCC stated that the Home Minister’s statement “showed that the JLF resolution was just a gimmick” and that the “Congress Legislature Party (CLP) was taken for a ride”. The NPCC stated that it will not take the “reckless statement lightly and demand from the NPF party to clarify as to whether the statement was personal or collective opinion”. “If the statement was of his own, Shri. Imkong L. Imchen should be asked to withdraw his statement and apologize to the Naga people”.
The Opposition Congress was of the view that when the JLF had offered to step down to pave the way for alternative arrangement, it was “pointless to talk about the NPF coming back to power” and questioned whether Imchen’s statement was an “indication that the failure of the political talk is imminent”. “Or, was it a political ploy to come back to power by deceit?”
The NPCC further stated that if election is a reality as scheduled, the “JLF has the responsibility to revoke the resolution before going back to the electorates because literally, the resolution betrayed the electorates of Nagaland State by putting them in unnecessary suspense and confusion vis-à-vis solution-versus-election”. Therefore, the NPCC stated that “not to talk of coming back to power, the NPF has lost even the moral right to contest”.
Pointing out that Imkong L. Imchen was right in saying that the JLF was not part of the negotiation but to say that the JLF was merely playing the part of a facilitator “was a betrayal of the CLP because playing the part of facilitator is the NPF’s declared political stand but not the Congress’ stand”. “Facilitator is just a word. Will the NPF define the content(s) of facilitator? How could one facilitate without being party to the negotiation? The facilitator connects the two negotiating parties and that connection does not totally disconnect them from the negotiating parties”. Bringing into question NPF’s participation in the election alongside facilitating talks, and calling this “electoral mileage”, the NPCC has said that “if the government of India says Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) is standing in the way of solution, the JLF resolution was a welcome step” and that “Naga political groups have consistently said elections in Naga land are hindrances to the Naga political struggle for independence”. Thus, the NPF should stop “serving two masters”.
The statement of the Union Home Minister as on September 14, 2012 explicitly interpreted that “solution and elections are entirely within two different ambits”. Asking NPF to “behave” like a constitutionally bound political party, NPCC stated, “People working within the constitution are constitutionally bound which has no parallel with people who have resisted constitutional imposition and negotiating for solution”.
