Party says proposal would add to AFSPA; questions basis for remarks against Secretary General Achumbemo Kikon
The Naga People’s Front (NPF) has hit back at former Nagaland Chief Minister and former Governor Dr SC Jamir over his remarks on the party’s Secretary General Achumbemo Kikon and his proposal for imposition of President’s Rule in Nagaland.
In a rejoinder issued on September 29, the NPF said Jamir’s proposal for President’s Rule “clearly demonstrates an ill motive to suppress our people through Army rule”, which it said would be “an added burden to the already imposed AFSPA.”
The party maintained that differences of opinion are natural in a democracy but said such differences should be addressed through “political reasoning and facts, not through personal insinuations.”
The response follows Jamir’s September 26 statement in which he criticised Kikon for his remarks against him, saying the NPF leader was “working on behalf of certain masters” and had been “tutored” to discredit him. Jamir had also questioned where Kikon’s political learning came from, referring to “Kohima, Manipur or Hebron.”
The NPF rejected the remarks as lacking factual basis and said the comments sought to create a misleading narrative about Kikon’s political associations.
More importantly, the party said the central question remained whether President’s Rule, as proposed by Jamir, was “warranted or justified in Nagaland today.”
The NPF has consistently opposed the demand for President’s Rule. In an earlier statement this month, the party said Nagaland has a democratically elected government and that President’s Rule under Article 356 should not be used as a shortcut to a political solution.
The State has previously experienced several spells of President’s Rule, including from January 3 to March 12, 2008, according to the Nagaland government’s official record.
In its latest statement, the NPF also said the Naga political issue “is too serious and sensitive to be reduced to a personal exchange”.
The party reiterated that any settlement should be “honourable, inclusive, acceptable and lasting” and said an agreement should not become “the seed of another problem for the Nagas.”
The NPF said the Naga people expected a discussion based on facts and present realities and called for political will, inclusiveness and a lasting political settlement.
The latest exchange comes amid a series of statements by political leaders and organisations over Jamir’s call for President’s Rule and the wider Naga political process. State BJP president Benjamin Yepthomi has also publicly backed Jamir’s recent position on the issue, while the Nagaland Tribes Council has objected to some of the remarks directed at the former Chief Minister.
