UDA govt accused of abdication of responsibility

Veteran Naga politician and former chief minister and governor Dr. S.C. Jamir including president Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) K. Therie, in separate statements, have questioned the manner in which the state government has literally abdicated its responsibility in dealing with the crucial issue of demand for separate ‘Frontier Nagaland’ state and allowing the Centre to directly deal with ENPO by bypassing the state government.
Earlier in an exclusive interview to Nagaland Post Friday, Dr. Jamir who is the only surviving member of the Naga People’s Convention (NPC) that signed the 16 Point Agreement for creation of Nagaland state on December 1, 1963 wondered why the state government has constitutionally abdicated its responsibility in handling the ENPO demand and instead, allowing the Centre to directly deal with ENPO.
He maintained that any responsible government should have tackled such an internal matter by holding official talks and discussing it in the assembly.
On whether the Centre was likely to grant statehood as demanded, Jamir said as per constitutional convention, a unanimous resolution has to be adopted in the assembly for statehood before it is taken up by the Centre and Parliament. This was done in the Assam assembly for creation of Nagaland then later Meghalaya and Mizoram.
If at all, the Centre is to take any decision without consulting Nagaland government, then it would be against the spirit of the constitution, he said.
When reminded that J&K was bifurcated into two separate entities and downgraded from state to union territories by Parliament without the state’s consent, Jamir said it was done when the house was under President’s Rule and also compelled by various factors.
In another statement, Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) K. Therie accused the government of India of “playing with ENPO without consulting the state government” and that if the latter was consulted then the state government was hiding this from the people. Therie claimed that as per sources, the Central government had hinted at granting a Regional Autonomous Council (RAC) for Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO).
While announcing creation of RAC, Therie said the Centre might even notify assembly election by passing the blame on Nagas for lack of unity in accepting political solution.
However, Therie said the only disunity was that while the public wanted a solution, the UDA government did not want it, unless NSCN(I-M) accepted the same.
Therie said the question whether there would be President’s Rule or election had kept everyone in suspense. In this, he cited sources to claim that the Centre’s representative for Naga peace talks was trying to impress the negotiation teams by hinting that the Centre was trying to find a way for President’s rule in order to implement the solution.
He asserted that it should be the choice of Nagaland whether to have President’s Rule or election since the future of Nagaland cannot be in the hands of the Centre.
In this regard, Therie said it was the responsibility of chief minister Neiphiu Rio to address these issues and should not keep his people in suspense.
“If UDA wants solution, just step down and ask government of India to implement the agreed solutions. If not, tell them in a resolution, that we want State elections on time. The decision should be from Nagaland State Assembly,” he insisted.
Therie also accused BJP of betraying people of Nagaland for the past seven years and the party cannot be trusted. He urged upon legislators to stop fooling public without knowing clearly the mind of the Centre.
Therie mentioned that Congress supported President’s Rule to facilitate implementation of the political solution because after election, it would be difficult for MLAs to agree to resign.