EMN
Dimapur, May 26
Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) today said, Congress party will not compromise with ‘communal forces’ for the sake of power and money and will continue to uphold the principles of secularism, socialism and democracy.
Further it said, the claim of an all party government was entirely wrong. “Congress MLAs may have joined the Govt but not the Congress party since we have made our stand clear to the people of Nagaland that the party does not agree to compromise with the communal forces. Unlike the BJP who are opportunistically waiting for Congress to act, Congress shall not wait for anyone but shall act according to our conscience in line with its party principles and ideology,” Media Cell, NPCC in a statement said.
On NPF-led DAN government, the NPCC said, the government has completed 12 years ‘rule of ruin’ to completely destroy the social structure of the State and that there is no respite for the people despite change of guard in TR Zeliang taking over as chief minister a year back.
“Chief Minister TR Zeliang celebrating a year in power while sailing in a rotten boat loaded with all 60 members of the house is destined to sink sooner or later given the precarious financial situation the state is faced with. After 12 long years, it is too late in the day to talk about progress and development when they had badly mismanaged every sphere of governance.”
The statement maintained, “The Nagas were known in the past for our simplicity and honesty that was an inherent part of our culture. Today we are looked down upon by the nation for being the most corrupt state with corruption spiraling down to the grassroots level. The VDBs and VCCs are asked to sign blank APRs and cheques of various central schemes like MGNREGA and job card holders hardly get any wages. Though the total state budget is over 12,000 crores, there is no fund for the welfare of the poor and needy. Our villages are in competition to prepare inflated number of households for VDB funds and enumerate bogus voters in electoral roll to perpetrate the vicious cycle of corruption perfected by the NPF government.”
“It has become an obsession for majority of legislators to occupy the seat of power to mint money and shamelessly practice favoritism, nepotism and corruption without any fear of law. Though the constitution has clearly separated the functioning’s of the legislature, executive and judiciary, yet in Nagaland our elected MLAs are all in one. With 12 Cabinets, 24 Parliamentary Secretaries and 5 Advisers in the present ministry of TR Zeliang government, the numbers speaks for itself as to whether they are in the service of the people or to serve themselves.”
The NPCC said, the State was without works programme for the past two years bringing all developmental activities to a grinding halt.
“The NPF manifesto is therefore a commitment without soul.”
The Congress said, in the face of misgovernance visible all over the state, the NPF-led government should hang its head in shame rather than celebrate thanksgiving without any worthwhile achievement.
“The past 12 years have become the lost decade for the people of Nagaland and the recent formation of so called opposition-less/ partyless government is just a desperate ploy by the NPF to collectively share the burden of misgovernance before the people for which the coming generations will pay a heavy price to recover the loss of our values and in restoring our dignity.”