Staff Reporter
Dimapur, March 28
A last minute attempt to botch the Manipur tour of Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on the eve of his second leg of campaign trail in Manipur has come to light.
As Naga People’s Front candidate from Nagaland, Rio is scheduled to address two election rallies at Tamei and Tamenglong on Saturday, March 29, falling under the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency, where NPF candidate Soso Lorho is contesting. He was to leave by a helicopter from Kohima on Saturday morning to address the first rally at Tamei at 10:30 am and then proceed to Tamenglong.Sources revealed that an unofficial communiqué was received by the Chief Minister’s office late on Friday evening stating that a senior bureaucrat at the level of Jt. Secretary in the Home Ministry(NE) had issued instructions that the Chief Minister’s helicopter ‘should not’ be allowed to land in Tamenglong district. The information coming from reliable sources saw the Chief Minister’s office question the audacity and the brazen use of office by the said official. When contacted Press Secretary to the Chief Minister Abu Metha confirmed the news and stated that the attempt to sabotage the CM’s campaign is not only undemocratic but a challenge to the constitutional and electoral rights of a candidate, who in this case is not only a contestant but also a Chief Minister of a state. That such instructions if they are to be issued in the first place should not be via text messages but through proper channel. The Union Home Secretary’s directions display a deep lack of respect towards the office of the Chief Minister and is in violation of the rights of a leader of a duly recognised party by the Election Commission of India to campaign for his party candidate, the CMO office said. Further, he added there are no grounds on challenging the validity of the use of the helicopter and even less ground to deny the landing of one in Tamenglong especially since all necessary clearances have long been obtained and secured both from the state of Manipur and the Assam Rifles.
The CMO also questioned if the star campaigner of the Congress Rahul Gandhi could land in the Assam Rifle’s helipad in Kohima without objections from the state government, how could Rio as candidate for NPF from Nagaland and Convenor of the North East Regional Party Forum be prevented from the same access to the helipad as a star campaigner. of the NPF.
Sources in the CMO disclosed that the objectionable instructions were received through a short message service (sms) from the IGAR office in Manipur, in charge of access to the helipad.
However, after the matter was brought to the notice of the authority at the Centre the communique was reversed and Rio and his entourage will be taking the chartered course.
This will be Rio’s second visit to Manipur in a week. On March 26, he officially launched the Lok Sabha election campaign for Soso Lorho at the Mini Stadium ground at Senapati. There, Rio before a mammoth gathering accused Manipur CM Ibobi Singh, of failing to protect and provide justice to the people, because his policies have been divide and rule the minority community in Manipur. Rio’s visit seen against the backdrop of the opposition put up by Manipur CM Ibobi Singh and obstructing Rio’s entry into Senapati to launch the NPF Manipur unit in May 2012 is a change. At that time Rio had described the approach as ‘unconstitutional and undemocratic’.
The last time Rio was in Tamenglong was in early February this year. As one writer put it the visit ‘was’nt just a neighbourly visit. Rio stirred the incendiary pot of Naga nationhood in a region that continues to write the book on incendiaries. It’s also a region that is facing a tricky future as a mineral and hydrocarbon hub, and gateway to India’s ongoing geopolitical and geo-economic plays in Myanmar and the immediate neighbourhood that contains Bangladesh and southern China.’
Naga-majority Tamenglong district is one of several hill districts which surrounds Imphal Valley. Comprising nearly a ninth of the state, these districts are inhabited largely by Manipur’s Naga, Kuki and other less numerous tribes. For several decades a de facto demarcation between Imphal Valley, the traditional homeland of the Meitei people, and the Hill tribes have remained unbridged. The reasons have been fueled by accusations that Manipur’s hills have been deliberately starved of development funds, opportunities and administrative independence should be decide, away from capital-control at Imphal..
One thing that Rio will address during his meetings at Tamenglong will be the simmering aspect of Naga aspiration—at least the aspiration fed by some among Naga political leadership and Naga rebel leadership, two institutions whose interests sometimes seem to meet.
