Thenucho censures party leadership’s suspension of senior NPF members

Says a tacit understanding appears to exist between the present NPF leaders and the Congress

DIMAPUR, MAY 23 : At long last, one of the most respected regional leaders in the state and a founding member of the Naga Peoples’ Front (NPF), has broken silence on the party leadership’s “habit of suspending the democratically elected MLAs and even the lone MP in total disregard to the will and wishes of the people to whom they represent.”

On Monday, Thenucho Tunyi, the staunch regionalist who has held the home portfolio besides stints as health minister and speaker of the Assembly, issued an article detailing his dismay at how the current dispensation of the NPF has “compromised with its original commitments and principles to work for the Nagas.”

After recalling the early years of the party (under a different name), he has written that regional party was in very bad shape. “In 1999, Dr. Shurhozelie Liezietsu had to resign from the party, including his presidential post and contest the parliamentary election as an independent candidate. When Congress was at its peak in the state politics serious differences arose with Mr. Jamir on the publication of the Bedrock of Naga Society. 

“Mr. Neiphiu Rio, the then Home Minister, resigned and along with his friends decided to work together under the banner of the regional party resulting in the formation of the NPF. Mr. Vizol was elected as the President and I was also elected as one of the two Working Presidents. NPF succeeded in forming the government in 2003 under the leadership of Mr. Rio. Rio, the Chief Minister and I as the Home Minister worked closely together to bring about peace and reconciliation and normalcy was restored in our state.”

Today, he has written, the NPF has failed miserably to live up to expectations as the party has ceased to be subservient to the interest of the Nagas. “It has failed to respect the will and mandate of the people by suspending the elected representatives and also ignored the voice of the majority of the elected representatives within the party. In the functioning of major political parties, suspension is used as a tool to keep party workers in check. 

“However it appears that the NPF under Dr. Shurhozelie as its President has developed the habit of suspending the democratically elected MLAs and even the lone MP in total disregard to the will and wishes of the people to whom they represent. And if that is not enough, the NPF has become a political party of contradictions. While 3 NCP MLAs who merged with the BJP were unceremoniously disqualified, the 8 Congress MLAs who joined NPF were whole-heartedly welcomed. A tacit understanding appears to exist between the present NPF leaders and the Congress party.”

The veteran NPF leader pulls no punches in writing that the NPF has compromised with its original commitments and principles to work for the Nagas.  “By using suspension as a tool the NPF has undermined the right of the electorates in the state of Nagaland. The Indo-Naga peace process is also in danger of being derailed,” he has cautioned. 

(full text in page 7)