Opposition-less govt. for solution is unconvincing, says The Naga Rising

Dimapur, Sep. 6 (EMN): The Naga Rising asserted that the formation of the opposition-less Nagaland United Government for unity and solution was ‘hardly convincing’.

A statement from the Naga Rising stated that the governance of an elected government had “nothing to do with the ongoing political negotiations between the Government of India and the Naga political groups (NPGs) or the question of unity among the NPGs.”

“What makes it even more bizarre is the fact that there is already a parliamentary panel on the Naga issue represented by members from both the ruling and the opposition. The PDA government deciding to abdicate its governance responsibility and the NPF to absolve itself from playing the role of a responsible opposition is driven by misplaced reasoning. Political solution, reconciliation or coming together of the NPGs should not be mixed up with the functioning of parliamentary democracy,” it read.

“In a representative democracy like ours, people exercise their adult franchise to elect the legislature and to which the real executive/government, namely the council of ministers shall be ‘responsible’. Collective responsibility is, therefore, a basic feature of the constitution and it is for the legislative assembly to enforce the collective responsibility of the council of ministers to itself as provided under Art 164 (2).

“But without the opposition, the government of the day enjoys power without responsibility with unfettered control over resources. It does not require rocket science to understand that without an opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Nagaland will witness an absolute and autocratic government which is not only unhealthy for democracy but a fraud on the constitution of India and the people of Nagaland,” it read.

It said that the chief minister and the ruling alliance should ‘focus on providing good governance’ to the State and fulfill the mandate on which they had been elected—corruption-free government under the slogan ‘change is coming’.

“If at all, the Parliamentary Panel on the Naga issue, already represented by both the ruling and opposition, should come out with a clear formulation/draft and timeline for the NPGs to work together towards one solution,” it added.