Dimapur, May 19 : The chief minister of Nagaland has vehemently lashed out at several private citizens who had expressed their opinions in a letter to the media following the Naga People’s Front (NPF) suspending Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Neiphiu Rio.
The chief minister’s establishment issued a rejoinder’ on Thursday calling the “so-called concerned citizens” opinions “very amusing read.” The chief minister’s office also ridiculed the individuals questioning them “if at all they even contributed a single comma or period to the article, [or even possess the ability to open up an internet page to mail such a write-up to the local media]…”
“To begin with, the above-mentioned persons, after their political misadventure in the early part of last year, have not been admitted as primary or active members of the NPF in the constituency since they have not sought for admission. And to call themselves as NPF supporters from the constituency is imaginary and not supported by fact,” the chief minister said.
The chief minister’s missive stated: “Secondly, it is a well-known fact that the authors of the write-up, if at all they even contributed a single comma or period to the article, [or even possess the ability to open up an internet page to mail such a write-up to the local media] are all die-hard fans of the suspended MP and do not have an iota of loyalty to the party they claim to support, for the simple reason that they were part of the cabal who used, misused and abused the government machineries while the MP was the chief minister and had made their fortunes by means foul, corrupt and questionable.”
“This cabal of sycophants who were given undue preference and partial treatment by the former chief minister were used to roam the corridors of power acting as if they were deputy chief ministers for nearly 11 years. And when their mentor preferred to go to the Parliament, the members of this cabal found themselves high and dry, and were lost like babes in the wood for two years or so, and actively campaigned for the return of the former chief minister to the state, thereby hazarding the stability of the present dispensation.”
Further, the CMO said that ‘attempts to dislodge the present government had continued unceasingly and got more audacious over the months.’
In the words of the CMO: “Mr Rio bulldozed his way to go to the parliament despite numerous pleas from party rank and file to let him continue as the chief minister. And when he was so adamantly determined to go to the parliament, the NPF party and it alliance partners ensured that he won by a record margin. How, then, had his prospects in the state damaged by his friends? NPF party leaders campaigned at the centre for induction of the lone Lok Sabha MP into the Union Ministry, but the Prime Minister, for reasons known only to him, could not obliged the requests.”
It is the prerogative of the prime minister to choose and select members of his ministry, the CMo stated, and, therefore “it is twisted logic from warped minds to allege that the prospects of the suspended MP were damaged at the centre by his friends.”
The rejoinder also said that the statement about Rio’s suspension holding the potential to “hamper his contributions to the ongoing peace talks,” was a “juvenile attempt to blackmail and threaten the party leadership.”
The CMO added that the “the write-up makes an amusing read, especially the mention of ‘friends’ backstabbing each other: It leaves nothing to the imagination of the people as to which friend first tried to backstab the other friend since the earlier part of last year!”
Also, the party’s leadership issued another statement on Thursday in response to the individuals’ opinions. The NPF asserted that the organization was “strictly guided by the rules so enshrined in articles of the party constitution.”
NPF
A note from the NPF’s “press bureau” said that the “NPF constitution schedule-lll: ‘Pledge for active membership’ says it all in the case of every NPF active member. The Disciplinary Action (Suspension) so imposed is thus, an unavoidable, normal procedure warranted by the laid down rules and discipline of the NPF, and not according to the whims and fancy of any individual or group of people as it is a practical impossibility with NPF system.”
The suspension order was “issued after months of deliberation in the court of the NPF,” the statement said, “After thoroughly examining the two replies given by Mr. N. Rio and finding it unsatisfactory/unconvincing as per provision of the party constitution, following proper application of mind, DAC recommended to the President for suspension.”
The accusation by the individuals–whom the party named; Rokuotuolie Mere, Kechalhoubei, Keduo Zumu, Lhousakuolie Metha and Thinuoneio Sote, all from the 11th Northern Angami ll A/C–“holds no water, but sheer blind and random tirades against the NPF by personals who are not members of NPF…”
NPF women wing
Another statement, this time from the part’s women wing asserted the “declared stand of the NPF party to provide a stable government to the people for all round development with an aim to bring an early and honourable solution to the Naga political problem.”
The “only option left to the party” was to suspend “those responsible for creating hurdles in the smooth functioning and continuance of the Government, so as not to compromise on the promise to the people to provide a stable government,” the women wing stated.
In the explanation of the NPF women wing: “It is never easy to part ways when we have been together for more than a decade as a political family, but when a few members of this political family are determined to break up the family it is always wise to disown and expel the truant members so as to save the unity, integrity and cohesion of the family.”
As the head of the NPF, the party’s president “would be derelict (sic) in his duty if he had not obeyed the decision of the DAC and removed the rotten apples from the basket,” according to the women leadership.
The wing said that the move was an “indication” of “the political sagacity and maturity of the president to take such a step when it is common knowledge that he and Mr Rio have been together since the early part of the last decade.”
“This clearly shows that the president cares more for the NPF than his personal relations with anybody,” the party’s women wing added.