With two NPCC officials joining the popular Bharat Jodo Yatra, NPCC president K. Therie told Mokokchung Times that Nagaland needed unity now more than ever.
According to Therie, Nagaland is suffering from a variety of divides, beginning with ENPO’s demand for Frontier Nagaland, multiple factions, and multiple ‘governments’, similar to how the BJP has divided India along the lines of communal violence, minority politics, and caste-divide.
“We have different factions, multiple governments, and multiple groupings, and now we have ENPO’s demand for Frontier Nagaland,” he said.
“These events are quite concerning, because it appears that our government no longer governs us. They’re asking us to make compromises with certain sections,” he remarked, when asked how significant a movement like Bharat Jodo Yatra is to Nagaland.
He then asked Nagas to unify, saying that it is past time for Nagaland to unite.
“The Nagas of Nagaland are not being integrated by the state government. They are more concerned about other Nagas. The government has no affection or love for Nagaland. They don’t care about Nagas in Nagaland,” he claimed.
Therie stated that he was unable to attend the Yatra due to his involvement in other activities. He did, however, state that they sent their representatives to the Yatra to demonstrate “unity and cooperation” and to bridge the regional divide.
“We are there to demonstrate that Nagaland is a part of the unity movement,” he stated, adding, “I want to congratulate our NPCC Vice President, Supongmeren, and NPYC President, Lima. I’m also thankful that they agreed to participate.”
When asked if he is interested in forming an alliance with any of the non-ruling parties in the state, he said that the NPCC is open to forming alliances with any secular groups. “I am open to all kinds of collaborations with secular ideologies. We simply want to remove the communal force from society,” he reiterated.
On being asked if he feels the NPCC can defeat the NDPP-BJP alliance on its own, he bemoaned that people are only voting for money. However, he emphasized that the Nagas have a lot of misconceptions about money.
He said that the most common misperception among Nagas is that they must only run on the same party ticket as the ruling party in the centre.
“The money, you see, will not be provided by the central government; rather, it will be awarded by the Finance Commission based on how much a state requires for development. However, Nagas believe that because the BJP is in power at the centre, they should only run on BJP tickets. Look at how well regional parties are doing in India, whether it’s Mamata’s TMC or KCR in Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Responding to whether he is more confident in his party for the upcoming election, he stated, “For sure, the NPCC will perform better if there is an election.”
“We were not prepared last time since we did not know whether or not the election would be held. However, we are better prepared this time and will do significantly better,” he added.
He also stated that the Congress presidential election set for October 17 in Delhi will generate more confidence in the party because the party will now have an elected president and thus, he feels there will be more authority in bringing about positive changes in the party.
Nagaland has 44 presidential voting rights in the upcoming Congress presidential election.