I was completely shocked and even amused to a certain extent when the local papers reported that Shri Neiphiu Rio M.P.(L.S) and former Chief Minister, Nagaland had been served with a show cause notice by the NPF. Now that he is representing our state in Parliament through the mandate of the people, a show cause notice based on his absence in the NPF CEC meetings and patronising anti-party activities/elements through interviews to legislators/Party leaders and public organisation leaders is a sheer nonsense.
On the contrary, as a public leader, such interaction with elected members and public leaders of various organisation and public is the bounden duty of any elected representatives and such approach should be the guiding spirit of a good leader and not to be taken otherwise by any individual and group in power, which exhibits dictatorship, narrow mindedness and selfishness. A time has come for our public leaders and public to wake up to the given situation. Towards this, my advice is to remove the dirt in your eyes and then remove the dirt in your colleagues’ eyes.
To justify this, About 20 to 30 years ago the regional party NNDP/UDF was voted to power but due to internal rivalries and jealousies within the party, some members were suspended/disqualified and have lost grip of power to the opposition party i.e. Congress(INC) without even a single regional party MLA. However, Shri Neiphiu Rio with his colleague friend Shri K. Therie left the Congress based on legitimate political issues and revived the regional party, formed the NPF, took over the reins of the almost defunct party with risks and sacrifices. Further, the party was reorganised and nurtured to face the 2003 General Assemble Election and the Government was formed which gave a new lease of political life to many, waking up the dead from their “Coffins”, including former Minister’s, MLA’s who were in political wilderness for many years. But sadly and surely the reincarnated leaders from the party have already forgotten those dark agonised period for reasons best known to them. During the tenure of Shri Neiphiu Rio, the then Chief Minister’s full trust and unity prevailed amongst the party, devoid of jealousy and back stabbing and there was good governance and cohesiveness with all round development and peace prevailed in the state. But what is happening today is those leaders at the helm of affairs are taking back the party to the erstwhile NNDP/UDF era as referred above which is not in the interest of NPF party nor for the people who gave mandate to the party for development and solution to the Naga Political issue spreading over 6(six) decades, but the present actions are an act of digging the grave for the NPF party. The present drama is like the story of the woman and the serpent, hence the serpents needs to be removed politically. Who revived and nurtured the NPF party to this stage? It is Neiphiu Rio.
( M.L.L Angami )
Kohima Town, Nagaland
