Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 13
PARLIAMENTARY Secretary for Rural Development and REPA, CL John on Thursday inaugurated the newly laid road covering the stretch of Indisen village, formerly known as Ao Kashiram, in Dimapur.
He expressed delight and satisfaction over the fact that the villagers, in particular the job-card holders, had pooled in their money received from the MGNREGA scheme and utilized it for the construction of the road.
CL John remarked that since the inception of Village Development Boards in Nagaland, the Chakesangs and the Aos have consistently recorded best performances in terms of fund utilization and development activities thereof.
The Parliamentary Secretary felt that such exemplary performances could be a lesson for all to learn. “Absence of workmanship has led to the failure of almost all the schemes that come to Nagaland,” he regretted.
CL John also used the occasion to counsel the Aos to shun all sorts of infighting among them. He felt that there was too much of clanism and “village politics” among the Aos.
Narrating how the Ao missionaries and preachers had dared to spread education and the Gospel among the Eastern Nagas, when even the British colonial power could not penetrate into the area, he said that Eastern Nagas have always respected the Aos.
“Rev Longri was a hero among the missionaries. And we have always tried to imitate you.
“And now with your village politics, clanism, yimlang and yimpang practices, you are setting a bad example. Some of our people have started following the village politics and quarrel with other clans,” he reminded.
While maintaining that the ancestral relationship between the Aos and the Eastern Nagas could never be severed, he shared that such bonds could indeed be a springboard towards an integration of much larger scale – among the Nagas spread across Burma, Arunachal, Manipur and Assam.
Short speeches were also delivered by the Project Director of DRDA Dimapur, Imti and the chairman of Indisen Village Council, Saku Kichu.
