No concrete roadmap shown by Nagaland govt. in managing pandemic : NPF

Kohima, 14th May 2020

Press Communiqué

Ever since the COVID 19 Pandemic erupted, the Naga People's Front (NPF) have voluntarily declared its fullest support to the Government of the day in tackling the present pandemic. This is because the NPF valued the lives of our citizens more than anything else.

The NPF have been also reserving some of its opinion and concerns the way the PDA Government is managing the pandemic hoping that things will improve if sufficient time is given to the Government. However, the NPF regretted to see the way the PDA govt. is handling the present situation.

No concrete roadmap has been shown by the govt. of the day in managing the pandemic even after elapse of more than 50 days of nationwide lock down. In order to avoid politicking at the expense of the lives of the thousands of precious lives, the NPF choose to remain mute spectator on several occasions, despite of the fact that the PDA Govt. have been indulging in various mischiefs in the guise of COVID 19.

Amongst many, one such example of mischievousness ventured by the govt. of the day is increasing the cess on petrol and diesel on the pretext of COVID-19 which is nothing but deliberate day light robbery as major chunk of the burden would be borne by not the haves but by the have nots.

In what can be described as the trait of Neiphiu Rio in taking the Naga people for a ride, the Chief Minister during the meeting with various civil society organisations of Dimapur at the Rhododendron Hall Chumukedima delved mainly on issues which has nothing to do with the COVID19 for which the meeting was called in the first place.

The NPF is constrained to issue this press communique as the reports in the media failed to cover and report allegations and misinterpretation of the CM in the meeting.

Rio must have mistaken the said meeting for a budget session in the Assembly as he started with the State deficit figures which is absurd and holds no relevance.

Yet, he must have stated and brought the deficit issue in the meeting out of guilty conscience as his tenure in 2003 started with zero deficit after the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government magnanimously gave a one time grant to wipe out negative deficit of the State. Now for him to blame the DAN-III government for the huge deficit which he had incurred during his 11 years tenure at the helm makes for a good comedy show.

What he must realise by now is that no matter how much he wants to justify his corrupt ways, the Nagas today fully understands the sort of man he is when in power. Further, if he really wanted the people to know the budget figure and make comparisons, why not make a factual statement based on the finance department records and recommendations.

Rather than making false and unverified claims just to portray a good image of himself, he should be bold enough to present factual information to the people. If he so desires and deems fit for the public to know State deficit figures in a meeting called to address issues on COVID19, why did he not state the 2019-2020 closing deficit figure of ₹2234.85 crores which is 500 plus crores addition in his two years as the CM since March 2018.

Yet if he is still in a state of denial due to his limited knowledge on how the state deficit continues to soar under his reign, it is best to take the advise of the department concerned and go through records rather than coming up with false statements time and again.

Furthermore, his attempts to tinker with the delimitation process which the Delimitation Commission has ordered is evident from his address to the gathering. Again, what has delimitation got to do with this pandemic?

The third unrelated issue which he managed to raise in the meeting was the Naga Political Issue. Now if we are to look at the past two years of PDA government, there hasn't been any significant breakthrough or headway to the Naga Solution.

Rather, the CM has been only so concern for his Chair that when the GoI and Naga Groups are finally hoping for a final settlement, the first thing he does is to rush to the central leaders to cement his seat in a post solution scenario. What notable contributions has he brought to the table other than the usual rhetoric and attempts to bring disunity amongst the Nagas?

These instances makes one to wonder if the CM is in a right state of mind to handle the pandemic. From issues of bringing back the stranded Nagas to setting up proper quarantine centres, Rio has terribly failed which is an indication of his poor leadership.

Trying to score some political points by engaging in politics in such meetings which is attended by Civil organisations is no more than the real true face of Rio. When the opposition party and civil organisations have been giving its fullest support in fight against this virus, it is unfortunate that the CM wants to play politics with the issue.

Also the Party is baffled by the irresponsible statement of the CM of late, at various public platform that the State of Nagaland would very soon be brought under President's rule. On what basis does he make such arrogant and confusing statement? Is it based on the central leaders indication to him of such a move or is it his own miscalculation or wish that the State be brought under such emergency provision.

What sorts of a Chief Minister of a State makes and wishes President's rule for his people?

Issued by
Press Bureau
Naga People's Front,
Central Headquarters,
Kohima: Nagaland .