NPF legislators reject Liezietsu’s olive branch

Dimapur, Nov. 18 (EMN): The absence of any provision within the structure of the Naga People’s Front (NPF) to either remove or impeach the party's president was the primary reason behind the decision of a majority of NPF legislators to side against incumbent President Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu in the ongoing tussle within the ruling party, according to a statement from the NPF legislators led by former Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio and TR Zeliang, the current chief minister. “The truth of the matter is we left the splinter group due to the unconstitutional and dictatorial functioning style of Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu and certainly not by some confusions created by others. “We have a black and white understanding about the working system of our splinter group and notably one of the prominent bones of contention of why we desert our rival group is due to absences of any neither clause nor article (sic) to remove or impeach the party president.” It stated that the reported invitation extended by Liezietsu ‘calling the majority NPF (TR-NR) to return to the minority group’ led by the former was ‘absurd, shallow and without any logic’. 'The sheer absurdity about Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu's call is his reference to black magic which has no relevance in the Naga culture and usage of such savage words are unbecoming of a senior citizen like Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu.' “Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu must know his own position that he is hardly surviving as the leader of the minority group, and it is his group that should join hands with the majority NPF (TR-NR) if they want to save and uphold the NPF party. “In democracy, numerical strength should be the determining factor especially in party matters therefore the majority cannot join the minority unless in a policy of dictatorial politics. In the present NPF party symbol dispute, the vast majority of the CEC as well as the absolute majority of the MLAs is with the leadership of Rio-Zeliang, hence the question of the majority falling prostrate before the minority does not arise,” it stated. The absence of any mechanism to remove or impeach the party president led to a scenario where “these suppressions eventually transformed Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu into an autocratic party president; therefore, we can safely conclude that the allegations of our poor understandings of the party and hands of outside forces to create problems are misplaced and incorrect”. It stated that the choice of the majority always prevails in electoral politics. “The minority should not venture to muzzle the voices of the majority by arrogantly inviting us to join them by even labelling us as wrong doers which are nothing but a signature mark of a political dictator. “Sadly, we have surmised that the olive branch extended by Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu, which are laced with phrases such as ‘come to me, join me’, are neither sincere nor democratic but an autocratic gesture to grind us”.