Dimapur, June 12 (EMN): Expressing serious reservations over the central government’s plan to begin the delimitation of assembly constituencies in Nagaland, the Chakhesang Public Organisation (CPO) has urged the competent authorities to revisit the matter ‘and take informed and conscious decision’.
The CPO submitted a representation to the chairperson of the Delimitation Commission of India on Friday, expressing its objection to the exercise.
It contended that the ‘present state of affairs in the matter of delimitation in the state of Nagaland is highly arbitrary and irrational’. The CPO went on to state that it is not workable in any sense.
“The process of delimitation in the state of Nagaland has a long chequered history and our objections today holds credibility and finds support from the historical factual developmental timeline that precedes the present day position and situation,” read the letter.
According to the CPO, its reservations come from the understanding that the present attempt to conduct delimitation is not based on the population figures obtained from the most recent Census (2011) but rather on the ‘stale figures of 2001 Census’.
“It seems the Union of India has now become oblivious to the decade-long struggle of the Naga civil societies to reveal and project the fallacies of the 2001 Census and about the unthinkable repercussions it would thus have if delimitation would have been allowed to continue on the basis of the 2001 population data,” it stated.
The decision to conduct the process of delimitation in the present manner and mode is not only arbitrary and a hasty decision but also stands contrary to the very idea behind conducting delimitation, the CPO argued.
It went on to describe the central government’s attempt to “bulldoze into the existing status-quo position without showing any sensitivity to the ground realities and the socio-political scenario of the state” as utterly despicable and unfortunate.
“The same is a harsh and hasty decision and exhibits a state of disorientation and an unorganised state of affairs,” it added.
The Lotha Hoho has decried a meeting of the 14 tribes of Nagaland reportedly held on Friday at the APO hall in Kohima.
In a statement issued on Friday, the apex Lotha organisation maintained that the meeting held to deliberate on the delimitation process in the state was conducted in a manner that defied all democratic norms.
“In the first place, the meeting was not only convened shoddily as the tribal bodies were not intimated properly and secondly, as a convention, the meeting should propose a seasonal chairman and secretary but that was not followed. As the meeting began, the apparently pre-arranged chairperson came out with a prepared draft representation to the governor which was not read out but simply asked the presidents/chairmen of tribal hohos to say whether they opt for solution first or delimitation first.
“This, for the Lothas, is an insult to all right thinking citizens of a democratic society,” read the statement.
It stated that “in defiance of democratic value”, the meeting was called only to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the question whether a tribe chooses delimitation or solution first, with the implied notion that the government of India was asking tribe hohos to choose one from the other.
“What has delimitation exercise to do with the Naga issue as long as Nagaland is a state within the Union of India? If Nagaland tribes are so genuinely serious in Naga issue, then the political approach should be a choice between elections or settlement but not delimitation. One should not demean the sacrosanct Naga movement with a domestic affair like delimitation. In view of the above, the Lotha Hoho along with some tribes do not subscribe to the decision taken today,” it stated.