DIMAPUR, April 1 - Accusing the ruling Naga People�s Front (NPF) of being �partially responsible� for installing BJP in the Northeast, the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) stated that the regional party is a �springboard� for the RSS-BJP in the State.
In a statement, NPCC president K Therie argued that the Finance Ministry or any other ministry in the BJP government �will be answerable to RSS� for giving any special Plan or non-Plan assistance to wipe out the deficits and shortfall assistance to a Christian-majority State like Nagaland, while pointing to the belief that �unless we are close to the Central government in Delhi, we cannot run the State government�.
Stating that the BJP government has not even released the entitlements under the �14th FC award�, Therie questioned the benefit of associating with the RSS-BJP �at the risk of our identity, religion, customary laws, social practices and our future�. He said the UPA government, in order to cover the 6th RoP, had given Rs 712 crore as special non-Plan assistance and Rs 326 crore as special Plan assistance.
Therie also alleged that the RSS and the BJP�s principle objective is to pass the Bill of Uniform Civil Code (UCC), which would mean �One Nation, One Law, One religion and One Tax� and claimed that the BJP is only waiting for majority in the Rajya Sabha, the States and the Union Territories.
�Once UCC is passed, special provisions, such as Art 370 and 371 (A) and others, would also be rendered powerless,� he cautioned. �Whatever we express about our uniqueness and identity will sink in the huge population of India. This is the greatest threat in our lifetime,� he added.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister�s Office (CMO) took a jibe back at NPCC, saying the Congress party has been made redundant by �their own fault�.
The CMO was reacting to the NPCC statement claiming that the Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu had become the Chief Minister of Nagaland by �default�. �It would appear that the Congress party has been made redundant in today�s context by their own fault and by no fault of anyone else when all its legislators and senior leaders parted ways with it leaving a few rejects to man the organization,� the CMO stated.
Ridiculing the State Congress, the CMO insisted that the NPCC must be appreciated by one and all, regardless of political affiliations, for admitting in the local media that it has now been reduced to a mere �idea�. �It takes sheer courage, and also extenuating circumstances, for a political party to publicly admit that it is headed for political oblivion,� it taunted.
Pointing to the political misfortunes of the Congress party in the recent past, the CMO stated that it should not come as a surprise to anybody that in the near future this �idea� of a political party would become a �faint memory�.
�If Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu has now become the Chief Minister, it is because of Constitutional provisions and Parliamentary procedures, and not through backdoor or front door, as alleged by the Congress party,� the CMO maintained and argued that no one ever considered Manmohan Singh becoming the Union Finance Minister in 1991 as backdoor when he had to be hurriedly elected from Assam as a Rajya Sabha member.
