EMN
DIMAPUR, MARCH 17
THE Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has termed the recent outburst of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio against the Congress as just rhetoric in parroting the voice of his new found mentor Narendra Modi in an attempt to meekly submit before the BJP high command. The State Congress said it cannot allow Rio to speak the language of sectarian and communal forces to befool the people of Nagaland.“Blaming the Congress at the Centre for not having the political will to solve the vexed Naga political issue stems from his own insincerity after the 2003 election promise to bring solution within three months if voted to power,” the NPCC in a release issued by its media cell said today.
The Congress said by steadfastly clinging on to the chief ministerial chair for the past 11 years while remaining non committal to pave way for any interim settlement debunks all his tall claims of being a “Facilitator” to the Naga political issue. Stating that Rio has failed to facilitate anything substantial, the NPCC has demanded that he publicly comes out with his role of facilitator rather than blame Congress at the Centre for his abject failure.
The Congress also wondered that Rio has started labeling the Congress as communal party to portray his political opportunism in front of the communal BJP mentored by the RSS.
Stating that the RSS was banned in the aftermath of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination by the then Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for its divisive and communal agenda, the NPCC said, however, in a desperate attempt to distort history, late Sardar Patel is now eulogized by both Modi and the BJP of which Rio has become a gullible follower by even promising to contribute resources for building the statue of the late Home Minister in Gujarat.
Raking up the issue of 1984 Sikh riots without knowing the reality to please his new found mentor and high command is most unfortunate and uncalled for, the NPCC said.
It made mention that both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a Sikh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had regretted the unfortunate episode of 1984 while the chief architect of 2002 Gujarat riots Narendra Modi and the BJP are still unrepentant on the carnage that took place under the official patronage of the state machinery. Therefore, the NPCC said Rio should also request the same from Modi and the BJP if he talks about moral authority in a complex country like India.
“After having made a huge fortune out of various flagship schemes launched by the Congress-led UPA at the Centre for the past decade, deriding the Congress flagship schemes is a case of biting the hand that feeds,” the NPCC said.
It further sought to point out that Rio by openly lambasting the Right to Education (RTE) and Food Security has exposed his capitalist mindset which is in line with the BJP’s socio-economic agenda of exclusiveness.
The NPCC also stated that Rio and his party never missed to accuse the Congress of perpetuating the high command culture from Delhi on different occasions. “However, with Rio and the NPF formally joining the BJP bandwagon, the NPF has submitted itself to the high command culture of BJP in Delhi and of the RSS headquartered in Nagpur (Maharashtra) thereby forfeiting all moral authority to point fingers at others and befool the people,” it added.
The NPCC also mocked Rio for what it called exposing his true communal colours and for making the communal BJP and the divisive RSS as the NPF’s high command.
The State Congress further demanded that Rio should publicly come out with his stand on the five issues where the BJP had committed to implement if voted with clear majority since he is more than eager to parrot the language of sectarian and communal forces in the course of charting his escape route from the mess that he has landed the State in 11 long years of perpetrating massive corruption and blatant misrule.
The NPCC mentioned these five issues as Anti Conversion laws which is primarily aimed at curtailing the mission activities of a particular religion in helping the needy and poor across the most neglected pockets/belts of the country; building of Ram Temple in Ayodhya which remains a political tinderbox; total ban on cow slaughter which infringes on the dietary habits of people especially from North East region; uniform Civil Code that threatens the socio-cultural rights and practices of religious minorities and abrogating Article 370 in J&K, which will in retrospect affect Article 371(A) enjoyed by Nagaland.
