Kohima, Feb. 10: As the three-day deadline set by the Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC) Kohima and Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) for the Chief Minister TR Zeliang to resign drew to a close today, the two organisations have appealed to all citizens to be prepared for any eventuality in the event Zeliang fails to step down by Friday midnight.
While the public is gripped in tension with uncertainty in the State’s current situation, both the Governor and the Chief Minister have been travelling. The Governor is said to have just returned from Sibsagar while the Chief Minister, who flew to New Delhi on Thursday, returned this afternoon.
Members of NTAC and JCC met Governor PB Acharya at the Raj Bhavan this afternoon to apprise him on the prevailing, in the words of NTAC and JCC, “pathetic law and order situation and dysfunctional governance” in the State.
NTAC officials talking to media persons, after they met the Governor, said he (Governor) had given “patient hearing” to the delegate. Acharya was quoted to have conveyed his understing with the demand of the people. He reportedly opined that whoever the wrongdoer is, his/their conscience must speak to them.
“We made it clear that in case, Zeliang does not step down during the stipulated time, the Governor, as the head of the State and Chief Minister, as the head of the government, will be solely held responsible,” one of the NTAC officials said. He also said that once the deadline gets over, drastic measures are being considered. However, considering the welfare of the public, he hoped that peace is restored again soon in the State.
NTAC and JCC delegation also handed over a representation to the Governor, which contained a reminder, that his assurance made to the NTAC on February 3 last to take action “as per Constitution” to punish the wrong doers has not been carried out so far despite “the fact that the Chief Minister TR Zeliang had admitted his wrong deeds and apologised on behalf of the government through mass media on February 8, 2017”.
NTAC and JCC asserted that the seat of the Chief Minister is honourable and fit only for the virtuous and not for a ‘wrongdoer.’
They also reminded the Governor that there is “complete breakdown of Constitutional Machinery” in the State, where all the government offices stopped functioning for the past 8 days. This demonstrates that there is no governance in the State and there is untold hardships being faced by the people in different walks of life, NTAC and JCC stated.
“You are also aware of the loss of 3 (three) lives and injury to several others. Even government offices belonging to 24 (twenty-four) departments have been razed to the grounds causing huge loss to public property. In spite of all these, TR Zeliang as Chief Minister is adamant and refusing to listen to the voice of the people to step down from the seat of the Chief Minister of Nagaland,” they wrote.
Considering the volatile law and order situation in the State, NTAC and JCC maintained that it was high time for the Governor to intervene and to take immediate action as he had assured on February 3.
Copies of the representation, signed by the NTAC convenor KT Vilie, NTAC secretary CT Jamir and JCC convenor Supu Jamir, and addressed to the President of India, the Prime Minister and the Home Minister were also handed over to the Governor.
