Meiteis and Hill Tribes were and will be neighbours: Nagaland CM

February 27, 2017

Nagaland Chief Minister Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu at Senapati on February 27, 2017

Nagaland Chief Minister Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu said Meiteis and the Hill Tribes of Manipur have been maintaining good neighbourly relations since time immemorial and will continue to be neighbours for all times to come.

Addressing an election rally at Senapati this morning, the Chief Minister said Meiteis and the Hill tribes of Manipur have no other homeland except the ones they presently occupy and that they have no option but to remain neighbours for generations to come.

“As long as this planet exists, we shall remain neighbours and so we should learn how to live in peace and harmony as good neighbours,” he said. “Meiteis are more advanced people in all spheres of life and we expect them to play the role of the elder brother by initiating measures to ensure continuity of living together as good neighbours.”

He was of the view that the present Chief Minister Ibobi Singh has been raking up communal tensions in the State “so that the Valley people back him during elections. He is more communal than his political party.”

He called upon the Meitei people not to fall prey to Ibobi’s designs and called upon “scholars and intellectuals to come out and speak the truth. If they speak the truth peace and harmony will come to the land.”

Elaborating on the aims and objectives of the Naga People’s Front, the Chief Minister, who is also the president of the NPF, said the primary aim of the party is to bring the Hill Tribes together by bringing them together to a single platform.

“This party is for the Hill tribes and not only for the Nagas and we hope that in due course of time, Meiteis too, would join the NPF,” he said and expressed happiness that some Meiteis are members of the party in Kangpokpi area.

Lauding past legislators from the Hill districts for all the good that they have brought about, the Chief Minister however, rued that in the past the legislators belonged to different political parties and that when they got to the Assembly at Imphal, “they become strangers to each other and failed to take up common issues.”

“It is for this reason that the NPF hopes to provide a single platform to all the legislators from the Hill districts so that they can speak in one voice and one mind in the Legislative Assembly to uplift the people of the districts and bring all-round development to the areas,” the Chief Minister said.

He elaborated that to fight for one’s rights and to improve one’s living standard should never be construed as going against other communities and that in this present age of global village, “we do not want to see our people living as second class citizens in their own State.”

On Naga political issue, the Chief Minister said “any problem that is to be solved peacefully through dialogue should not be construed as going against any community” and assured that his party stands by its motto Fide Non Armis (By Faith, Not by Arms).

Pointing out that some NPF leaders have sacrificed their applications for NPF tickets and have now come out to go all out to support “their friends who have got the NPF tickets”, he termed these individuals as “true Heroes of the NPF” and asked others to emulate them and strive for the betterment of the party.

Earlier in the day, he lauded former Chief Minister and present Chairman of DAN Coordination Committee TR Zeliang for making the supreme sacrifice for the party and people of Nagaland and assured him that “we shall all work together to ensure that you retain your position one day or the other.”

Former CM says Blockade creation of Ibobi

Former Chief Minister of Nagaland and present Chairman of DAN Coordination Committee TR Zeliang said the ongoing blockade in Manipur is the handiwork of the Manipur Chief Minister Ibobi Singh and that to lift it or to let it continue depends on him alone.

Addressing an election rally this morning at Senapati, Zeliang said when BJP leaders Ram Madhav and Himanta Sarma Biswa paid a brief courtesy call on the new Chief Minister of Nagaland yesterday, they asked in passing whether the Chief Minister and himself could speak to the UNC to lift the blockade but that he replied “the blockade was Ibobi’s creation and it depends on him whether it could be lifted or whether it would continue. Let us see the outcome of the Tripartite talks with the UNC and the Government of India.”

“He had created new districts without consulting the stakeholders knowing fully well this would result in protests and blockades. But expecting the Valley people to back him up and vote for his party, he had announced the creation of these new districts. It now depends on him whether to revoke the Government decision or to let it stand,” Zeliang said.

“Dividing the people on communal lines and appealing to a section of the people for political gains is not advisable,” Zeliang said.

Lamenting that the Naga political issue is yet to be resolved even after a lapse of almost 20 years after ceasefires were signed, Zeliang said there are “some political elements who do not want the problem to be solved because they think that once the Naga problem is solved, their political careers would come to an end.”

He said that problems that are being resolved through peaceful dialogue should not be opposed by anyone and hoped that “sooner than later the Naga political problem shall be solved amicably without hurting the sentiments and emotions of any other communities.”

Recalling how he had written to NSCK (K) supremo Khaplang when he was the Chief Minister to re-enter into Ceasefire Agreement with the Government of India as well as with the Government of Myanmar, he expressed his sincere wish that a peaceful atmosphere would be created with Ceasefire agreements so that “Nagas living in both the countries can have dialogue and solve the political problem once and for all.”

Zeliang asserted that the NPF supports solution of the Naga political problem through peaceful dialogue and not through armed conflict.

Vote NPF for self-rule: Yitachu

Nagaland Minister in charge of Manipur NPF State Unite Yitachu gave a clarion call to the people of the Hill districts of Manipur to elect NPF candidates in the forthcoming general elections so as to ensure that they can ensure protection of the people of the Hills area of the State.

Delivering a speech at the kick-off campaign of the NPF party at Senapati today, Yitachu referred to the Constitutional provisions of Article 371 C which has special provisions for effective functioning of the Hill Area Committee, but added that the Government of Manipur, under Chief Minister Ibobi Singh “has no intention to implement the provisions contained under Article 371 C, nor does the Central Government have made any attempt to exercise the powers under this Article for the people of the Hills area.”

“Only the NPF party can fulfil the aspirations of the people of the Hills districts and electing the NPF candidates can fulfil your aspirations of fully implementing the provisions of the Constitution of India as contained in Article 371 C,” he said.

“Opportunities do not come all the time, and if we miss this opportunity to elect the NPF candidates to the 11th House it would mean that we shall have to wait for another 5 years which will not be good for the people of the Hills districts,” he said and called upon the people to vote for the NPF candidates “for preservation of the identity, interest and progress of hills people for a dignified, respectable and prosperous life.”