NDPP condemns statement of NPF Legislature Party

9th October 2018

1. The NDPP is astonished at the reaction of the “NPF Legislature Party” (a matter of legality, since there cannot be another party within a political party) against the Hon’ble Speaker of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly that appeared in the local dailies on 7th October 2018 since, the Naga Peoples front and its Legislature Wing should be the last ones that have a right to question the actions of the present Hon’ble Speaker of the NLA considering the fact of how obnoxiously they managed and manipulate the 12th House of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly by using the office of the then Speaker of the House to their maximum advantage.

2. The NPF is proud to claim to have had an opposition less government under the leadership of the former Chief Minister T. R. Zeliang, which in-fact is not an achievement in a democratic system of governance, but rather, it was a murder of democracy! No democratically elected government can function impartially and provide good governance to the people without an opposition to maintain checks and balances; and this is evident from the fact that the then Leader of the House in collusion with the NPF Party President, disallowed its members from raising questions of public importance on the floor of the house thus even implicating the offices of the Hon’ble Speaker of the House.

3. It is no secret that in one of the sessions of the last House, one of the Hon’ble Members was made to raise a certain issue aimed at tarnishing the image of another Hon’ble member who also happened to be a member of the Treasury Bench during zero hour on the instance of the Leader of the House. The end result was, the Hon’ble member who was being attacked had to walk out of the well of the House in protest since the then Hon’ble Speaker refused to allow him to speak in his own defense! This was the system of “democracy” under the reign of the NPF who today are crying foul over a non issue!

4. In any democratic government across the nations, it is a well known fact that members of both the opposition and the treasury benches are allowed to raise questions on the floor of the House if they feel it is for the benefit of the people without going against the policies of the government in the case of those members of the treasury bench. However, under the leadership of the then Chief Minister and the NPF President, the Nagaland Legislative Assembly had made a mockery of this illustrious historic system of democracy.

5. Today, the NPF is criticizing the Hon’ble Speaker of the NLA for not giving enough time for question hour during the last sitting of the NLA in September 2018. Perhaps the NPF Legislature Party has forgotten of the “historic” 15 minutes of sitting of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly in 2016 wherein no order of business was conducted other than the Speaker calling the House to order and then immediately adjourning the House Sine Dine! The NPF even after making such mockery of the highest decision making body i.e the Legislative Assembly, and without even once considering the financial implication to the States huge deficit incurred in even organizing one session of the House, today has the audacity to attack the office of the Hon’ble Speaker!

6. The Hon’ble Members of the NPF Legislature Party have perhaps forgotten the reverence we have for the office of the Hon’ble Speaker and are trying to defame the office along with officers of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly. Perhaps the NPF Legislature Party fails to realize that it is the prerogative of the office of the Speaker that decides the order business of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly and not the Members of either the Treasury or the Opposition benches. The NPF Legislature Party should perhaps look back first at how they themselves had made a mockery of the office of the Speaker while they were at the helm of affairs just a few months back before pointing fingers at the present Hon’ble Speaker of the NLA!.

7. While the Speakers office is a neutral body, the NDPP will not tolerate such disrespect to an office that is revered by everyone and particularly since the office of the Hon’ble Speaker of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly is also the face of the State. The NDPP therefore condemns the statement of the NPF Legislature Party and calls to all right thinking citizens of the State to decry such callous and immature statements made by the Legislators of Naga Peoples Front!

8. It is surprising that the NPF has decided to take matters which are sacred to the floor of the House into the public domain especially when a delegation of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly was preparing to participate in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Meet. The sanctity of the House has not been respected and the NPF has restored to un-parliamentary conduct. It is unfortunate that a party like NPF has stooped so low in its desperate attempt to attack the PDA Government. Perhaps it is bereft of issues and is resorting to personalized attacks and resorting to punch below the belt just to grab public attention.

(Issued by NDPP Media & Communication Committee)