Dimapur, May 9 (EMN): Nagaland chief minister Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu on Tuesday visited Manipur and met his Manipuri counterpart, N Biren Singh.
A CMO press release on Tuesday claimed the meeting ‘as the beginning of a new era for the two neighbouring States as well as the different communities in the region.’ the chief minister, it was informed, was accompanied the chairman of DAN TR Zeliang, minister in charge of NPF Manipur state unit Yitachu and NPF central vice president and in charge of NPF MSU Zaku Tsukhru.
“People carrying party flags of the BJP and life-size posters of the two chief ministers lined up the street leading out of the Fort and was a touching sight to see after all these decades of the two neighbours maintaining conspicuous distance from each other.“The bonhomie was all-pervading and the body language of the leaders said it all: A small but significant beginning has been made to usher in a new era of peace and goodwill”, the CMO statement read.
it also quoted the chief minister as saying: “We are all aware that there were several crises in our two States, but with the change of guards here at Manipur, people have begun to see a ray of hope and a new dawn of peace is being heralded in between the two States and the different communities in the region”.
He lamented that in the past certain leaders had manipulated and made use of the circumstances for their “own selfish ends” but that with the new dispensation taking over the reins of the State “a new era has dawned and we should all take it as our personal victory”, it stated.
“Stating that the Meitei community are the most advanced in the region, he called on the Meitei people to ‘play the role of the big brother to other communities in the region’ and that the many learned scholars and intelligentsia from the Meitei Community ‘should come forward and create a conducive environment for return of peace and harmony in the State and region’” the statement read.
Later in the day, addressing party functionaries in an informal gathering, DAN Chairman and former Chief Minister TR Zeliang said that for the first time in decades, Manipur was fortunate to a have a chief minister eager to reach out to the hills people and urged party men and women to extend full cooperation to the good gesture so as to ensure all-round development of the hills districts, the CMO press release stated.
“Parliamentary secretary Manipur Awangbow Newmai, who is also the president of the NPF Manipur state unit, said that in the past, Nagas and hills people were considered as ‘the worst enemies of the valley people of the state, but with our support, the government has been formed and we will prove that we can be and we shall be the best of friends of the Valley people’” the statement read.
