Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, May 18 (EMN): Days after deciding not to contest the Lok Sabha by-elections, the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) on Friday announced that the party will be supporting the Naga People’s Front (NPF) candidate, C Apok Jamir.
“We have decided to support the NPF candidate with hope that they will actually safeguard the secularism, principles and ideologies of the state and adopt philosophies of secularism for the future of Nagaland,” said K Therie, the president of NPCC during press conference at Tourist Lodge, Dimapur.
According to him the Congress had proposed a secular-front-combine opposition candidate and ‘set up a secular front candidate against communal forces’. Jamir had won the 2013 Nagaland assembly elections on Congress ticket, only to defect to NPF later in the tenure.
Therie admitted the NPCC was ‘stunned’ by the NPF’s choice since a case against those former Congress legislators was still pending at court. He stated that none of the Congress members were happy with the ‘betrayal of trust by the (NPF) candidate’.
However, the party has decided to support Jamir after considering ‘the present scenario’ where it sees a “communal threat or Hindutva” with the principle of “one nation, one religion, one law”, Therie said. “This is a major threat to the people of Nagaland. We have no affinity with Hindus or Muslims in our culture, custom and religion or social practices,” he claimed.
Therie also called the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) the brain and heart of the ruling government where their “ideology and mission is to convert everyone to Hindutva”. He also informed that the NPCC had enquired the NPF of the status of its alliance with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the North-east democratic Alliance (NEDA).
According to Therie, the NPF president, Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu gave a letter besides verbal assurance that they have severed all ties with the NDA and the NEDA.
]He also termed the political developments in Karnataka as shocking. “Whatever yardstick they are applying cannot be now trusted” said Therie adding that the role of a governor has been specified in the constitution of India. “The NPCC joins the nation in condemning the act of the Karnataka governor and the BJP in the centre,” he said.
