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Chief minister Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu speaking at an election rally on Monday in Manipur.[/caption]
Senapati, Feb. 27: Chief minister of Nagaland, Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu on Monday said that it was the aim of the Naga People's Front (NPF) to bring together the hill people to a common platform for a common voice.
Addressing a district level election campaign here today at Senapati mini stadium, he said that the NPF stands for peace and that ‘strengthening our position does not mean we are going against other communities’.
Liezietsu reminded the gathering that the hill tribes of Manipur and the Meiteis would remain neighbours “as long as this planet exists”. So we should learn how to live in peace and harmony as good neighbours, he said.
The chief minister, who is also the president of NPF, accused Ibobi Singh, his Manipur counterpart of creating communal tensions ‘by diverting the Meitei minds to fulfil his political dream.’ Ibobi, he said, was more communal than his political party.
He appealed the Meitei intellectuals to realise this political trickery and work for the common good. “Only then peace and harmony will come to our land,” he said.
The chief minister’s office also issued a press release containing a report of said rally. “Addressing an election rally at Senapati this morning, the chief minister said Meiteis and the hill tribes of Manipur have no other homeland except the ones they presently occupy and that they have no option but to remain neighbours for generations to come,” it stated.
According to the statement, the chief minister also elaborated on the aims and objectives of the NPF, saying the primary aim of the party was to bring the hill tribes together by bringing them together to a single platform.
“This party is for the hill tribes and not only for the Nagas and we hope that in due course of time, Meiteis too, would join the NPF,” he was quoted as saying, while expressing happiness that some Meiteis were already members of the party in Kangpokpi area.
“Lauding past legislators from the hill districts for all the good that they have brought about, the chief minister however, rued that in the past the legislators belonged to different political parties and that when they got to the Assembly at Imphal, ‘they become strangers to each other and failed to take up common issues’”, according to the statement.
He was quoted as saying: “It is for this reason that the NPF hopes to provide a single platform to all the legislators from the hill districts so that they can speak in one voice and one mind in the Legislative Assembly to uplift the people of the districts and bring all-round development to the areas”.
On Naga political issue, the chief minister said ‘any problem that is to be solved peacefully through dialogue should not be construed as going against any community, according to the statement.
“Pointing out that some NPF leaders have sacrificed their applications for NPF tickets and have now come out to go all out to support ‘their friends who have got the NPF tickets’, he termed these individuals as ‘true Heroes of the NPF’ and asked others to emulate them and strive for the betterment of the party,” it stated.
Chairman of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland, and former chief minister, TR Zeliang declared that the NPF was not allied to any party in Manipur and that it would fight the elections alone.
He was also reported by the chief minister’s office as saying that the ongoing blockade in Manipur was the handiwork of Ibobi Singh and that to lift it or to let it continue depends on him alone.
It also stated that Yitachu, minister in charge of Manipur NPF state unit, ‘gave a clarion call to the people of the hill districts of Manipur to elect NPF candidates in the forthcoming general elections so as to ensure that they can ensure protection of the people of the hills area of the state.’
Yitachu referred to the Constitutional provisions of Article 371 C which has special provisions for effective functioning of the Hill Area Committee, but added that the government of Manipur, under Ibobi Singh “has no intention to implement the provisions contained under Article 371 C, nor does the central government have made any attempt to exercise the powers under this Article for the people of the hills area,” it stated.
The campaign attracted a huge turnout, with thousands of NPF supporters thronging the Senapati mini stadium on Monday.