The Kohima District Congress Committee (KDCC) said it was “amused” by local publications being filled with rejoinders and counter rejoinders of the Naga People’s Front (NPF) and Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP). It said that the attacks and counter attacks have “utterly confused” the general public with neither party able to bring about a conclusion.
KDCC president, Kevi Vizo, in a press release claimed that regional political parties in Nagaland had demeaned provisions of the Constitutional rights of the Naga people.
Referring to the NPF rule for three terms, KDCC said that in that time Acts of the Parliament, including the GST, had been quietly accepted and the Nagas, who were earlier exempted from paying taxes, were now imposed with all forms of tax.
It was also blamed the “wrong decision” of the then NPF government to hold ULB elections for Nagaland losing “precious lives while properties worth crores were brought to ashes in 2017.”
Turning to the NDPP, the KDCC said that although the NDPP has the tag of a nationalist party, it claims to be a regionalist, and has created confusion among the people with its lone MP in Lok Sabha remaining silent during the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) 2016 on January 8, 2019 in the Lower House. “…the Party led PDA government had along been rejecting the peoples’ cry instead of rejecting the CAB 2016” it asserted.
It also pointed out that it was during the tenure of the current Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio as an MP, who was then in NPF, during whose tenure the draft bill was taken up in the Parliament. The KDCC said that Rio too had then failed to raise any voice to protect Nagas from the contentious bill. The KDCC added that with the present MP withdrawing his support from the Bill, the NDPP-led PDA was fooling the Naga people by convening a consultative meeting with political parties and Naga civil societies.
Admitting it was no constitutional expert, the KDCC said that it, in general, understood that Article 371(A) of the Constitution guarantees that no law of the Parliament could apply to the State of Nagaland, unless so decided by the State Assembly. But, the irresponsible behaviours of the regional parties in accepting the Acts of Parliament and trying to impose them upon the Nagas without considering their welfare “has become a grave threat for the Naga people” it added.
Citing these reasons, the KDCC said that it feels that it was high time the Nagas should seriously “reconsider in choosing the leadership and given the opportunity Congress will be humbled in leading the State with all sincerity.”