Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Jan. 19: Former bureaucrat, and presently a member of the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC), Khekiye K Sema on Saturday said the state of Nagaland was created by the Congress party in 1963, which gave ‘Nagas an identity and dignity.’
Sema was speaking at the launch of ‘Jan Sampark Abhiyan’ (door-to-door campaign) by the NPCC on Jan. 19 at the Congress Bhavan, in Dimapur. He said that Naga people should know their history well to remain ‘where we are with firm conviction, and stand for what we believe is right.’
Sema urged the volunteers of the Congress party—as they campaign door-to-door and talk to the people of Nagaland—to tell them of the Nagas’ history and let them know what the Congress party had done for Nagaland.
“In 1929, when Nagas for the very first time submitted a memorandum to the Simon Commission, they had one reason in their heart. They said: ‘we are a very small community and if we are put into the crowd of the mainland, we are nothing. We are too small a minority, so please leave us alone to decide our own fate’”, Sema quoted the memorandum.
“Remember it was the Congress party that led to where we are today; the foundation to create a stable India was built by the Congress. They made sure to respect each religion in a diverse country like India, they showed respect to the minorities and gave them their rights no matter how small the community was, that right was given to every individual in the country,” Sema maintained.
Pointing out that Nagas talk of shared sovereignty without any external intervention, Sema said that there was ‘nothing as shared sovereignty in real sense.’
“However, if we have to define it, we already have in the form of Art 371 (A) created by the Congress. We are standing on the foundry of what the Congress had done for Nagaland, so it is our duty to revive and rejuvenate the old principle with commitment and conviction,” he said.
He said that the first generation Naga leaders, who were Congress members, built infrastructure, hospitals, and schools down to the village level so that all the Naga children can be educated.
“If we want to maintain the dignity of what the Nagas had been in the past, this is the moment to revive and rejuvenate the feeling within us,” Sema called on the Nagas.
“Your work to distribute the booklets is not to sell it as quickly as you can, rather it is an opportunity to be able to tell them what the Congress party stood for—equality and common welfare,” Sema said, adding that the Congress party was gaining momentum and reviving its original strength in the country.
Earlier, Temjen Yanger, the secretary of NPCC gave a brief introduction about Jan Sampark Abhiyan. Yanger said the door-to-door campaign involves distributing booklets, explaining what the Congress party stands for, and also sharing what the Congress party had done for the country.
