The Naga People’s Front (NPF) on Saturday inaugurated its Chümoukedima Division Office at 7th Mile, in an event that also included the oath-taking of office-bearers and addresses by senior party leaders, signaling organisational expansion and political consolidation.
NPF Secretary General and MLA Achumbemo Kikon formally opened the new office. Speaking at the function, Kikon said the office represents discipline, responsibility, and continuity rather than mere logistics. “At home you may do and speak as you like. But once you enter an office, you are bound by office environment and office discipline,” he stated, adding that the party pledge drafted in 1968 continues to bind its office-bearers.
Tracing the party’s origins to 21 October 1963 when it was founded as the Democratic Party of Nagaland (DPN) with the motto Fide Non Armis (“By faith, not through arms”), Kikon said the motto has remained unchanged for six decades. He noted that the party’s symbol, the cock, “continues to give hope” to the Naga people. He recalled that in the first State elections of 1964, the party won 12 seats and later saw all its MLAs resign en masse following the signing of the first ceasefire between Naga underground groups and the Government of India on 6 September 1964. “Such sacrifice is unheard of today,” he remarked.
Kikon highlighted that the merger of two regional parties on 21 October last year, to mark NPF’s 60 years, exemplified the unity of the Nagas. He said under Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, the party has “gone the extra mile” to lead from the front in uniting Nagas across regions and opinions. He also emphasized the party’s role in safeguarding the rights of non-Naga minorities in the state.
Calling for transparency and accountability, Kikon urged members to become assets to the organisation and serve the public faithfully. He stated that the government’s 34 MLAs place the resolution of the Naga political issue at the top, without neglecting the development of the state.
Also speaking at the event, Zhaleo Rio said the Chümoukedima Division Office marked the successful completion of the NPF–NDPP merger at the grassroots level. He praised state leadership for expediting the process and noted the Chümoukedima–Dimapur belt as a crucial political and demographic zone. He emphasized that unlike other districts, the Dimapur area demonstrated political maturity, calling it “the mini Nagaland.”
Rio urged party workers to coordinate between division and assembly constituency levels and reminded them that they were unpaid political workers serving public welfare. He said many Naga elders and intellectuals had welcomed the merger and urged political actors to set an example for Naga unity across the spectrum, including underground groups. “A new vehicle has been handed over; it depends on how we drive and maintain it so that positive changes can follow,” he said.
The program was chaired by Phushika Awomi, Vice-President (COB), began with an invocation by Pastor Mhasivizo Pucho of the Chümoukedima Town Baptist Church, and the oath was administered by Senior Vice-President Charlie Sekhose.
