Exigency might offer ‘marriage’ chances for NPF, INC
Dimapur, Feb. 11 (EMN): The Nagaland unit of the Indian National Congress (INC) has declared support to secular parties in seats the party will not be contesting during the forthcoming elections to the Nagaland Legislative Assembly.
The media cell of the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) issued a press release on Sun. expressing shock at what it called the “rush of candidates to BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)” in Nagaland.
The executive committee of the NPCC has informed about having had a meeting on Feb. 10 during which it “decided to support secular party candidates wherever INC candidates are not contesting.” The rank and file of the Congress are directed to comply with the decision ‘in letter and spirit.’
“NPCC has to take the above decision to salvage the people of Nagaland from sinking in the Hindutva quicksand. For over two and a half years, NPCC has been educating the people on the danger of Hindutva,” the press release stated.
“However, it is shocking to see the rush of candidates to BJP. It is also shocking that NDPP (Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party) decided to share Nagaland assembly seats with the BJP by providing them 20 seats ignoring the cry and fear of the people.” The Congress party was of the opinion that the NDPP—“born out of dissident activities”—must have “blown their minds for money and power.”
The Congress quipped further that the NDPP was fully aware about how minorities and minority religions were being persecuted and were suffering under the rule of the BJP. “We are living in a depleted state because of NDPP leadership,” the Congress alleged as it also referred to the Angami Baptist Church Council ‘acknowledging’ fears about the Hindutva influence being brought into the state.
“The cry of NBCC (Nagaland Baptist Church Council) should not go in vain. Therefore, Congress has taken the decision to support secular political party candidates wherever INC is not contesting. The decision is aimed to stop BJP and its alliance partners from compromising the rights of our people and our way of life,” the NPCC stated.
Toward said objective, the press release added, the INC ‘will welcome any secular minded parties and leaders from forming a broad consensus to provide secular and stable government and to stop the tide of Hindutva forces in Nagaland.’
Of birds of different feathers
The ideological disengagement between secular traditions and perceived fundamentalist movements in India may be best represented by the testy Congress-BJP narrative.
However, it might not always necessarily be intrinsically ideological. For instance, although the INC—the grand old party of India—has been reduced to either the fifth or the sixth option among political parties for the forthcoming elections, the BJP leaving the Naga People’s Front (NPF) may have just given the Congress party some lives to play the religion card.
The NPF’s dream for another alliance with the BJP, which began in 2003, was shattered when the latter left them for the NDPP although the former had retracted its earlier stand against the BJP.
Reliable sources indicate that BJP leaders in the region had tried working out formulae for the NPF and the chief minister of Nagaland TR Zeliang.
It apparently did not work out—the reason why the NDPP-BJP alliance came about only at the last minute.
Also, with the NPF going in alone to the polls, the INC aligning with the regional party may be another potential marriage for the NPF and INC’s top leaderships’ families: the NPF chief minister’s son is married to the daughter of the NPCC’s president K Therie.
Talking of exigencies and alliances, Apok Jamir, a son of one of the Congress party’s most fabled exports Odisha Governor SC Jamir, is with the NPF now.
