Kohima, April 19: Nagaland Home Minister Dr TM Lotha has dismissed the charges made by NSCN (IM) MIP Secretary Hokugha Sema that BJP was a communal party and its leaders at the Center as well as the State were hobnobbing with the fanatic forces like RSS.

In a statement here today, the Home Minister made it clear that the BJP in Nagaland had time and again given its position clearly to the people that it was �political party like any other political parties in the country.� Therefore organizations like VHP or RSS had nothing to do with the functioning of BJP in the State, he pointed out.

Terming as �unfortunate� the NSCN (IM) statement come at a time when the peace process was going in the right direction, the Home Minister said such statement was only putting the whole efforts made by BJP led-NDA Government particularly Prime Minister Vajpayee and, of course, the leaderships of the NSCN (IM), into an �abysmal condition.� It (statement) also created �confusion� in the minds of the Naga people as well as leaderships of the BJP-led NDA at the Center because the DAN Government had been exploring every �possible means� to ensure that �parties concerned have a meaningful political dialogue� as per the wishes of the Naga people.

�We fail to understand as to what prompted the NSCN (IM) MIP Secretary who is supposed to be a responsible person in the organization that is currently and mutually having political dialogue with the Government of India, to issue such unfounded statement,� Dr Lotha wondered.

�It seems the whole exercise is being worked out under some vested interests politicians to destroy the hard earned peace process that has been giving a new leash of life to the Naga people.� Denying that BJP had hidden agenda, Dr Lotha, who is also senior BJP leader in Nagaland, said the party�s running of NDA coalition Government with over 20 allies and completing its term was the �real testimony to it,� that the BJP had no hidden agenda at all.

Also the BJP-led NDA Government would have never given opportunity with open-mindedness to the NSCN leaders during their stay in Delhi to have interactions with streams of Indian political leaders cutting across party lines as well as Nagas if they had any hidden agenda as alleged, he pointed out.

�All the allies (at the Center) are equally enjoying the same status as BJP does,� the Home Minister explained.

Therefore, the charge made by NSCN (IM) that the BJP leaderships at the Center as well as in the State were hobnobbing with RSS forces was �unfounded and baseless,� he stated.

The Home Minister, however, alleged the Congress party of being �anti-Christian and anti-minority� besides �psudo-secularist�.

He said when the BJP proposed GG Swell of Meghalaya as vice Presidential candidate and then Maharastra Governor PC Alexander as Presidential candidate, the Congress party had opposed on the ground that they belonged to Christianity.

The country had come to realize Congress� hidden agenda such as psudo-secularism, he stated.

Dr Lotha also said the visit by the collective leadership of the NSCN (IM) to Delhi was because of the sincerity on the part of the leadership of the BJP-led NDA Government at the Center and it was one of the biggest achievements on the part the Government as far as Naga political issue was concerned.

Reaffirming that BJP would continue to work for the interest of the Naga people with the same spirit they had been working to see that the �Naga political problem is resolved sooner or later.� Reiterating that the current peace process should always be kept above politics as collective leadership of the NSCN (IM) had rightly stated in their statement issued on January 24 last year while in Delhi, �Indeed, the peace process should be an issue that remains above party politics, for greater things are at stake.� Stating that NDA Government had already shown its sincerity by not including the Naga political issue in its election manifesto knowing that it should be above electoral politics, the Home Minister asserted that the Naga people could not afford to allow some vested interest to play down the Naga political issue at this juncture.

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