NDPP is 'verba non facta' : NPF

Kohima, 12th October 2019

If Governance was to mean shifting blames on to others; there is no other Government in the entire Country that can beat NDPP led Government in this front. Diverting issues and shifting blames on to others have become the professional trademark of NDPP. Instead of accepting its shortcomings on the CAB, it has questioned what the then Chief Minister, TR Zeliang was doing in 2016 when the State was under his guard.

To set the record straight, NDPP Party must understand that the said Bill was proposed in the Lok Sabha on July 15, 2016 and referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on August 12, 2016 when the present Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio was the Lok Sabha MP representing NPF Party from May 2014 to February 2018. This fact cannot be denied by anyone.

Therefore, when Neiphiu Rio himself was the lone Lok Sabha MP representing the NPF Party at that point of time, how can the blame be shifted to the NPF Party today? This is like spitting at one’s own face. If not for facilitating such affairs between his people and the Parliament, what otherwise was the purpose of Rio representing the Naga people at the Lok Sabha?

As the MP from the NPF Party representing Nagaland, it was his bounden duty to have consulted the State Government back home while taking into confidence the voice of the Naga people since the said Bill was referred to the JPC which took over a year. However, Neiphiu Rio failed to do this because he was ignorant of what was going on in the Parliament during his tenure. Moreover, he was spending sleepless nights master-minding crisis, one after another, to topple the then NPF led DAN Government in the State.

One may agree that the Mizo Accord followed by special provision of Article-371(G) and Assam Accord which gave birth to NRC safeguard the interest of the indigenous people of Mizoram and Assam. Likewise, the 16-Point Agreement leading to the birth of Article-371(A) is intended to safeguard the interest of the indigenous people of Nagaland.

Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland has Inner Line Permit (ILP) while Meghalaya has Entry and Exit points. However, despite all these provisio and measures, many leaders in the NE States protested against CAB which included Conrad Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Zoramthanga, Chief Minister of Mizoram and Biren Singh, Chief Minister of Manipur.

Three Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) leaders even resigned as State Ministers over the controversy on CAB after they tendered their resignations to Assam Chief Minister, Sarbananada Sonowal. Despite all the hue and cry, Chief Minister of Nagaland, Neiphiu Rio stubbornly refused to budge from his naïve belief that Nagaland was protected from CAB under Article-371(A) and ILP.

Does this imply that his counterparts in other NE States were raising alarms out of a non-issue or was it Neiphiu Rio who rather failed to understand the reality? If we really mean to uphold Article-371(A), we should raise our voice before any contentious Bill is passed so that exemption of the Bill can be incorporated in the said Bill.

NDPP Party has no dignity as a political party. As such, it is advised to either stick to its motto or to avoid the same altogether in order to avoid further humiliation. Action speak louder than words and if the correlated adage ‘Facta Non Verba’- motto of the NDPP Party- is any indication to the utter failure of the NDPP led Government during the last almost 2 years, the better suited Latin phrase would be just the opposite- ‘Verba Non Facta.’ This is because of the fact that the NDPP led Government till date has been ‘all words and no deeds.’

Effective Governance is based on how Government conduct public affairs and manage public resources. But unfortunately, the approach of NDPP led Government is built on ‘words and not deeds’ and the end result is in full public display for all to see.

When NDPP preach of ‘Development for all, together with all’ it must understand that Governance and development also means the right and the means to examine the process of decision making and the responsibility of being able to provide details of actions taken. It is about being able to explain, clarify and account for the action of the Government of the day.

On the contrary, the NDPP Party has been avoiding the queries put forward by the NPF Party, both inside and outside the Nagaland Legislative Assembly, except for political rhetoric which the NDPP Party has no dearth of.

Issued by:
Press Bureau,
Naga People’s Front,
Central Headquarter,
Kohima: Nagaland.