Mokokchung, July 15 : The working president of the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC), Ayang Aonok on Friday stated that the defection of the eight Congress legislators to the ruling NPF was not for leadership issues but was rather ‘ideological.’
The NPCC leader offered the revelation during a District Congress Committee (DCC) and Assembly Constituency Congress Committee (ACCC) meeting at the DCC’s office in Mokokchung on Friday.
Many believed that if all the eight Congress MLAs had defected to the NPF, the Congress party in Nagaland would have collapsed completely but the party survived, Ayang Aonok said.
The working president explained that when the eight MLAs proposed to join the government that the BJP was also in alliance, the Indian National Congress President Sonia Gandhi gave her answer: No.
“Sonia said, if it is NPF alone then it is a go but if there is BJP in it then the Congress and the BJP will never meet ideologically so it is a no. However, the eight Congress MLAs refused the directive of the leaders and joined the government,” Aonok disclosed.
He explained: “Within 24 hours before the MLAs joined the government, the NPCC president was dismissed by the AICC. The dismissal of the NPCC president means all the decisions that was (sic) made under his president-ship becomes (sic) null and void. The new president issued directives in written not to join the government as directed by the party’s high command. Some accepted, some denied, so it was published in (the) newspapers.”
“Show cause notice was served and their replies were channeled to the high command. However, the replies were not accepted and were dismissed by the high command. The eight MLAs' supporters then disturbed the meeting in front of Congress echelon officials (sic). The supporters of the MLAs were also served Show Cause notice. However, their replies were not satisfactory and after deliberating their actions the executive decided to meet the Congress president and her officials. They directed to dismiss the members who cannot stand along with the Congress ideology (sic),” he said.
Aonok also alleged that the BPJ declared their party to be a “democratic” party. However, he said, the BJP’s pillar was religious fundamentalism. Also, he slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Modi tries to act like a democratic statesman and delivers speeches in international arenas. However, all the government functioning are being controlled by the RSS.”
Further, the NPCC leader said, the NDA government promises and sanctions ‘crores of rupees’ but the money has not been reaching ‘the concerned organs’ and that there was no circulation of money in Nagaland.
“Within a span of two years, Modi has gone on more than 30 trips on foreign tours but there is no one to invest in India. Foreign investors are not interested to invest because of religious intolerance (in India),” Aonok said.
Expressing concern that the regional NPF was slanting toward the fundamentalist group RSS, he said: “Last year Yoga Day was observed on Sunday and it was also observed here, but Mizoram refused to observe the day. (Yet) Nagaland is the only state to declare Nagaland for Christ in India.”
Regarding Chief Minister TR Zeliang’s educational qualification, he said that the “chief minister’s qualification will be revealed in time when he files his nomination papers in the coming state general elections.”
Saying that the Congress had given exceptional leadership to the Naga people during 1993-2003, Aonok said that the national party even today follows the policies that were adopted in Pfutsero by its forerunner party NNO in 1972 to bridge the gap between the Government of India and Naga “political” groups.
