DIMAPUR, Aug 25 - The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) today said the act of immersing former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee�s ashes in some selected rivers across the country has been turned into a �political circus� by the BJP and, to a greater extent, by the party�s Nagaland unit. The Nagaland Congress accused the BJP of politicising the death of the former Prime Minister.
In a release issued by the NPCC�s media cell on Saturday, the Congress unit pointed out that last rites are generally performed by family members of the deceased for eternal peace of the departed soul, and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP of �usurping the last rites of the former Prime Minister and using it for petty political gains�.
After consigning Vajpayee to political oblivion after the 2004 electoral defeat and rendering his political thoughts and actions irrelevant through divisive agenda and hate politics, the BJP�s sudden affection for the former Prime Minister after his demise is just a ploy to extract some cheap political mileage, the NPCC alleged.
It also flayed the Nagaland BJP leaders, particularly State president Temjen Imna Along, for their eagerness to please their �communal masters� by following and observing rituals that were alien to �our way of life� and said this was an insult to all right-thinking Nagas.
According to the State Congress, the all-out attempt by the State BJP to assimilate into an alien culture as dictated by their high command is a severe assault on the aspirations of Nagas and their future at a time when the Nagas had struggled for the past seven decades to protect �our unique history�.
Respecting others� beliefs and culture should not be done at the cost of compromising �our very own� beliefs and culture that form the core foundation of �our existence as individuals and as tribes,� said the Nagaland Congress unit.
The NPCC said the �zealous conduct� of the State BJP president in propagating the Hindutva culture of the RSS in the State �that is even despised by majority of Hindus across the country� needed to be condemned.
