NPF has ridiculed the list of achievements provided by chief minister Neiphiu Rio at NDPP’s third general convention at Kohima on Thursday.
In a press release issued by its press bureau, the opposition party asserted that, contrary to Rio’s claim, the ground reality was different. It said the chief minister’s claim of ending VIP culture had become a joke and that Nagas could not be taken for a ride or fooled any further.
NPF said the Nagas were witness to how the PDA government had appointed their kith and kin to various government undertakings and passed statutes that imposed “unnecessary burden” on the State exchequer.
The opposition party alleged that, not contended with these, the PDA government was talking about good governance and transparency and promised to provide good roads within 30 and 60 days that stretched to 100 days. The government declared that all district roads would be repaired, but the promised good roads had gone down the drain along with change of seasons, it added.
Taking a dig at Rio’s assertion that all government teachers were mapped digitally to maintain transparency, NPF advised him to pay their salary regularly and look into their well-being, instead of mapping them digitally, as they were the backbone of a strong society and deserved to be treated well.
NPF further asked Rio to stop fooling the Nagas with his statement on Naga integration issue as he had already shown his true colour when he allegedly declared loud and clear that Naga integration was no longer possible after his meeting with Union home minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi. It said his government’s reaffirmation to uphold integration of all Naga contiguous inhabited areas under one administrative unit was misleading.
Scoffing at the launch of pink buses in Dimapur, which was also in the list of PDA government’s achievements, NPF observed that there was no point providing pink buses to women in Nagaland as “our Naga women” felt more secure and protected travelling alongside men unlike other cities and States across the country. It reminded the government to look into women’s reservation issue that was lying dormant for reasons best known to it, rather than providing pink buses for women to travel on precarious bumpy roads.
NPF also termed the much-acclaimed Mini Hornbill festivals being organised in district headquarters with much fanfare as nothing “but a poor show” indicating that the government was not serious enough in its good governance initiative, and rather taking the people for a ride.
According to the opposition party, celebrating Mini Hornbill festivals at a time when the Nagas were reeling under sky rocketing of prices of essential commodities and had literally no roads to travel, was nothing but a flop show of governance on the part of the PDA government.
Taking a dig at the reaffirmation of NDPP to pursue gender equality, democracy and freedom, as enshrined in its constitution, NPF asked the former to fulfil its commitments and immediately look into the issue of 33% reservation of seats for women in urban local bodies without any further delay, “instead of playing with the emotions of empowered Naga women by providing pink buses as a stop-gap arrangement to fool them”, adding it had become biggest joke of the day.