Nagaland
NPCC expresses shock over Tokheho’s remark on Art 371
DIMAPUR — The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has expressed shock at the recent statement made by Lok Sabha MP Tokheho Yepthomi advocating revocation of Article 371 (A) in Nagaland.
Condemning the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) legislator’s statement, the NPCC said his subsequent rejoinder “does not offer an iota of merit, in terms of course correction necessitated by his original statement.”
In a press release issued by its communication department on Monday, the NPCC stated that the MP’s rejoinder leads one “to wonder as to whether the initiative was at all about course correction or one aimed at adding salt to injury.”
The NPCC reminded the MP that Article 371(A) not only accords special category status to Nagaland as a state but also serves as an acknowledgement as well as a constant reminder to all concerned about the uniqueness of the history of the Nagas as a people.
“We fail to see any justification that could be considered as even minutely justification enough for the atrociously ill advised take of the lawmaker, and we ardently hope that he somehow finds his way back to good sense and take back his words with an unconditional apology to the people of Nagaland,” it asserted.
The NPCC went on to state that the NDPP’s reaction towards this ‘unfortunate development orchestrated by its MP’ is not at all helpful either.
“It’s a textbook lesson in political dereliction, coming from a place of utter ideological bankruptcy,” it said, adding that the ruling party “needs to understand that the office that the MP holds, and the issue at hand, are way too serious and consequential to be brushed aside simply by disowning it.”
“It is a collective tragedy that the NDPP’s ‘anything for power’ Ideology has turned it into a pliable agent of the RSS/BJP’s grand majoritarian scheme for uniformity & singularity across the Nation, and that it cannot even muster enough moral agency to censure and mete out proportionate disciplinary action against its MP for so blatantly taking a stand against the hard fought rights of the people of Nagaland,” it added.