Says all recognised Naga tribes of Nagaland are equal
Dimapur, March 2 (EMN): Reacting to the statement of TR Zeliang during an election rally at Tamenglong on February 28 that he was dislodged because he was from a minority, Naga Tribes Action Committee (NTAC) reminded him that the demand of the people of Nagaland truthfully was his stepping down owning moral responsibility for the loss of lives in the aftermath of declaration for conduct of ULB elections in Nagaland under his government.
Stating that all recognised Naga tribes of Nagaland are equal and there is no different categorisation as he might in his ‘wildest imagination naively think,’ NTAC Media Cell today said the people of Nagaland, who according to all understandings the High Command and whose voices are supreme in a democracy, rejected him not at all because he hails from a minority tribe.
It said the most unfortunate instance for a person was not in his ousting from a position but in his own incorrect utterance of a self-demeaning statement irrefutably causing a ‘total shredding to self-esteem awfully unbecoming of a statesman let alone one who had happened to be a chief minister a State.’
NTAC also expressed surprise on the statements made by TR Zeliang and Yitachu in Manipur that Central forces offered by the Centre could have been brought in to contain the protesters in Nagaland and held on to the seat. Contrary to their claim, NTAC said it portrayed a ‘disappointingly’ opposite story- a full scale disinclination of the Centre to interfere.
It referred to Kiran Rijiju, Union Home Minister of State, in the NDTV show of ‘Walk the Talk’ hosted by Shekhar Gupta, who reportedly stated that the ongoing movement in Nagaland was an internal issue of the state and the Centre, fully aware that law and order being a State subject, emphatically opted out.
All the hardships and losses that had happened to the people of Nagaland would not have seen the light of the day had TR Zeliang in the first place listened to the voice of the people and stepped down gracefully, it said.
Moreover, it said the wrong legal advice which Yitachu had been vociferously advocating was the basis for the government of Nagaland to go ahead with conduct of ULB elections against the wishes of the people and the elected government under the leadership of TR Zeliang miserably failed its role and responsibility of fulfilling the Constitutional obligation vis-a-vis safeguarding Article 371-A.
