Dimapur, April 18 (EMN): What started as a case of being a vigilant opposition for the Naga People’s Front(NPF) party may just have landed its leader in thick soup. The allegations that its press bureau made against the principal secretary of the department of Rural Development Lhoubeilatuo Kire has provoked a demand for redress.
The Kire Chienuo (Angami for 'clan of Kire') of Kohima village has on April 18 demanded that the leader of the opposition TR Zeliang explain the reasons of the conduct the clan termed a ‘personalized vendetta’ against the officer, a member the clan. In the otherwise, the clan stated, the matter would be taken up with the 'Kohima village authority.'
The clan issued a press release stating that the allegations against Kire emanated from the leader of the opposition, which the organisation stated to have confirmed from the NPF's press bureau.
“It has come to the knowledge of the Kire clan that the personalized veiled attacks and insinuations emanated from Shri TR Zeliang, the honourable Leader of Opposition in the NPF party; this has been confirmed from the NPF press bureau already,” it stated.
The clan alleged also that the current issue was not the first instance when the leader of the opposition had made serious allegations against the same person earlier.
“Through the press media, Shri TR Zeliang MLA is asked to explain his conduct in making personalized vendetta attacks on Abeio Kire (Lhoubeilatuo Kire ) considering this is not the first time. During the tenure (of chief minister) Shri SC Jamir In the mid 1990s as Forest minister, you had made very serious allegations against Abeio Kire who was a DFO (district forest officer) then; yet the clan members chose to excuse you,” it stated.
The press release from the Kire clan was appended by its President Dr. Kikrukuolie Kire and General Secretary Vilavotuo Kire.
Angami youth tells NPF to prove slur; else apologise
On Wednesday, the Angami Youth Organisation (AYO) too issued a statement expressing exasperation at the way the NPF had levelled “senseless allegations” against Lhubeilatuo Kire, principal secretary of the Rural Development. The organisation claimed he was a sincere officer in the state's bureaucracy. The organisation has demanded that the NPF party either provide appropriate evidence to prove its allegation, or to apologise to Kire publicly.
A press release issued by the president and general secretary of the AYO stated that the NPF’s allegations tantamount to defamation; devoid of any substantial evidence or reasonable explanation except that a ‘personal vendetta’ was being levelled to make Kire a political scapegoat and a victim of any unexplainable reasons ‘best known to themselves only.’
While stating that any ruling government or opposition having grudges or criticism against each other were 'natural,' the AYO was of the view that resorting to “the pathetic standard of NPF stooping as low to as such unnatural measure is completely against all conventional norms both professionally and traditionally (sic).”
The youth forum has declared that it is “compelled to caution” that far from political equations, the balance of the social strata of the society and respect of its values were equally important. Such an unwarranted assault on Kire, it stated, was unacceptable.
The AYO has demanded that the NPF furnish appropriate evidence to justify the allegations or apologise to Kire publicly.
“We trust that good sense shall prevail so as to avoid further conflicts and aggravation of the existing crisis entirely created by the NPF,” the release added.
