The Rising People’s Party (RPP) have termed the November 28 office memorandum of the State Home Department regarding deputing of Village Guards to participate in the celebration of Statehood Day and Hornbill Festival inauguration as a “bullying tactics” and “a complete insult to the sentiments of the eastern Nagaland people” by the NDPP-BJP Coalition government.
RPP said in a press release on Tuesday that if the ENPO is not willing to participate in the Hornbill Festival, it is their prerogative and their stand should be respected.
RPP asked the NDPP-BJP Coalition why it is hell-bent on eastern Nagaland’s participation in the Hornbill Festival through backdoor means. “Why should the state government issue a notification forcing the Village Guards (VGs) from eastern Nagaland to participate in the festival donning traditional attire? Are the VGs the only bonafide government servants, and easy victims that they should be bullied into participation which is sure to inflame the sentiments of the eastern people?” RPP questioned.
RPP further said, “It should be noted that there are VGs in Phek district as well but as per the government’s notification, only the VGs from eastern Nagaland have been summoned for participation which the RPP smells rat.”
It further said that there is a “genuine grievance” for which the ENPO is unwilling to participate in the Hornbill Festival but, it said, “the manner in which the Rio-led government is carrying out its bullying tactics necessarily means that the NDPP-BJP government is bent on creating disunity among the eastern brothers through manipulative means.”
“Such disgusting tactics to undermine the eastern Nagas who have been at the receiving end for decades will only lead to more disunity for which the Rio-led government cannot escape responsibility,” RPP said.
RPP also said that as far as the demand for “Frontier Nagaland “is concerned, the eastern Nagas have their genuine grievances for which the party fully supports the reasons for their grievances.
During the party’s 34-day walkathon around Nagaland, the RPP said that it observed that eastern Nagaland is indeed poorly developed, and as such the grievances of eastern Naga people cannot be brushed under the carpet.
