Tag: NDPP

  • JD(U) frowns upon Nagaland unit’s support to newly-formed government

    By PTI

    PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) on Wednesday described as “high indiscipline” and “arbitrary” the support extended by its Nagaland unit to the newly formed government in that state where the NDPP-BJP alliance returned to power.

    According to a statement issued by the JD(U)’s national general secretary in charge for the North East, Afaq Ahmed Khan, the party’s Nagaland state committee has been, therefore, dissolved.

    The JD(U) had bagged one seat in the recently held elections to the 60-strong assembly of Nagaland, where the NPP-BJP alliance has been voted to power for the second time in a row.

    “The central party comes to know that Nagaland state president of our party (has) given a letter of support to the Chief Minister of Nagaland without consulting the central party, (which) is high indiscipline and arbitrary. So, the party has dissolved the Nagaland state committee with immediate effect,” the statement said.

    ALSO READ | Sharad Pawar clears proposal of NCP’s Nagaland MLAs to join Neiphiu Rio’s govt

    The JD(U)’s support is understood to have caused an embarrassment to Kumar, the supreme leader, who had snapped ties with the BJP last year, vowing to defeat it by uniting the opposition in the Lok Sabha polls next year.

    The NCP, NPP, Naga People’s Front, RPI (A), LJP (Ram Vilas), JD(U) and Independent MLAs extended support to the NDPP-BJP alliance for an opposition less government.

    NDPP president Neiphiu Rio took oath as the chief minister of Nagaland for the fifth term on Tuesday.

    PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) on Wednesday described as “high indiscipline” and “arbitrary” the support extended by its Nagaland unit to the newly formed government in that state where the NDPP-BJP alliance returned to power.

    According to a statement issued by the JD(U)’s national general secretary in charge for the North East, Afaq Ahmed Khan, the party’s Nagaland state committee has been, therefore, dissolved.

    The JD(U) had bagged one seat in the recently held elections to the 60-strong assembly of Nagaland, where the NPP-BJP alliance has been voted to power for the second time in a row.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “The central party comes to know that Nagaland state president of our party (has) given a letter of support to the Chief Minister of Nagaland without consulting the central party, (which) is high indiscipline and arbitrary. So, the party has dissolved the Nagaland state committee with immediate effect,” the statement said.

    ALSO READ | Sharad Pawar clears proposal of NCP’s Nagaland MLAs to join Neiphiu Rio’s govt

    The JD(U)’s support is understood to have caused an embarrassment to Kumar, the supreme leader, who had snapped ties with the BJP last year, vowing to defeat it by uniting the opposition in the Lok Sabha polls next year.

    The NCP, NPP, Naga People’s Front, RPI (A), LJP (Ram Vilas), JD(U) and Independent MLAs extended support to the NDPP-BJP alliance for an opposition less government.

    NDPP president Neiphiu Rio took oath as the chief minister of Nagaland for the fifth term on Tuesday.

  • As Meghalaya, Nagaland head for polls, there’s unrest in the air

    By IANS

    SHILLONG: When political pundits are sceptical about the Naga peace talks while all parties and organisations are united in seeking resolution of the issue before the Assembly polls, ethnic troubles, along with resumption of agitations in support of old demands including introductions of Inner Line Permit (ILP) system, causing the situations hot up in neighbouring Meghalaya.

    Assembly elections to Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Tripura are expected to be held in February 2023 even though political parties and the Election Commission already started their activities in the three northeastern states.

    Ethnic tension and troubles have been prevailing in Shillong and its outskirts after the October 28 rally organised by the Federation of Khasi, Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) highlighting unemployment problems in Meghalaya.

    As per eyewitnesses accounts and official reports, some FKJGP members, many of them masked, punched, kicked, and pushed passers-by indiscriminately, injuring a large number of people, mostly non-tribals, and causing panic and huge traffic jams in the area.

    Two days after the violence, the administration of the East Khasi Hills District – under which the Meghalaya capital falls, promulgated prohibitory orders 144 Cr Pc in the city and adjoining areas, banning all kinds of gatherings and rallies, except religious processions.

    However, on November 1, violating the prohibitory orders, the Save Hynniewtrep Mission (SHM), a conglomerate of NGOs, organised a rally in Shilling, attended by hundreds of people, and met Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong in support of their nine-point demand, including the imposition of Inner Line Permit in the state.

    The Confederation of Meghalaya Social Organisations (CoMSO), an apex body of over 17 organisations, has been spearheading the agitation since 2019 for introduction of ILP in the entire state, as against three autonomous district council areas at present.

    The SHM’s other demands include inclusion of Khasi language in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution, solution to the long-pending Harijan Colony issue, and review of the MoU signed between Meghalaya and Assam in phase one of inter-state border talks.

    It is also demanding a CBI or judicial probe into the killing of former militant leader Cherristerfield Thangkhiew by the police, filling up of vacant posts in government departments, and immediate repeal of Gambling Act.

    SHM leader Roy Kupar Synrem, who is also the General Secretary of CoMSO, said they had informed the Deputy CM that they would further intensify their stir over non-fulfillment.

    “Not just in Shillong, whenever the Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister or any minister visits any part of the state, our members and volunteers would go there to ask questions and remind them as to what happened to our nine-point charter of demands,” he said.

    If the ILP is enforced in entire Meghalaya, like in four other northeastern states — Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Manipur, the state would keep itself out of the purview of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

    The ILP, under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, is an official travel document that allows an Indian citizen into a protected area for a limited period.

    To visit the ILP-governed states, foreign nationals and even people from other states of India need to take a permit from the state government.

    The main aim of the ILP system is to check settlement of other Indian nationals in these states to protect the native population. Protection is also extended to the indigenous people with regard to land, jobs and other facilities.

    Political experts said that ahead of the election to the 60-seat Meghalaya Assembly, agitations on old issues, including ILP, expected to intensify in the mountainous state, which also often witnessed ethnic violence during the agitations of various organisations including the anti-CAA movement.

    In neighbouring Nagaland, amidst the unrest over the non-settlement of the Naga political issue, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said that unresolved issues are behind the backwardness of the state.

    If final solution is reached to the Naga political issue, Assembly elections may be deferred to enable interim arrangements. In the proposed political settlement, increase the number of Assembly constituencies, increase of seats in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the state and economic packages are likely to be considered, the CM had said.

    Rio, the top leader of the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), said that though Nagaland was created in 1963, it was lagging behind in all areas of development while many states that came into existence much later had progressed faster.

    SHILLONG: When political pundits are sceptical about the Naga peace talks while all parties and organisations are united in seeking resolution of the issue before the Assembly polls, ethnic troubles, along with resumption of agitations in support of old demands including introductions of Inner Line Permit (ILP) system, causing the situations hot up in neighbouring Meghalaya.

    Assembly elections to Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Tripura are expected to be held in February 2023 even though political parties and the Election Commission already started their activities in the three northeastern states.

    Ethnic tension and troubles have been prevailing in Shillong and its outskirts after the October 28 rally organised by the Federation of Khasi, Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) highlighting unemployment problems in Meghalaya.

    As per eyewitnesses accounts and official reports, some FKJGP members, many of them masked, punched, kicked, and pushed passers-by indiscriminately, injuring a large number of people, mostly non-tribals, and causing panic and huge traffic jams in the area.

    Two days after the violence, the administration of the East Khasi Hills District – under which the Meghalaya capital falls, promulgated prohibitory orders 144 Cr Pc in the city and adjoining areas, banning all kinds of gatherings and rallies, except religious processions.

    However, on November 1, violating the prohibitory orders, the Save Hynniewtrep Mission (SHM), a conglomerate of NGOs, organised a rally in Shilling, attended by hundreds of people, and met Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong in support of their nine-point demand, including the imposition of Inner Line Permit in the state.

    The Confederation of Meghalaya Social Organisations (CoMSO), an apex body of over 17 organisations, has been spearheading the agitation since 2019 for introduction of ILP in the entire state, as against three autonomous district council areas at present.

    The SHM’s other demands include inclusion of Khasi language in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution, solution to the long-pending Harijan Colony issue, and review of the MoU signed between Meghalaya and Assam in phase one of inter-state border talks.

    It is also demanding a CBI or judicial probe into the killing of former militant leader Cherristerfield Thangkhiew by the police, filling up of vacant posts in government departments, and immediate repeal of Gambling Act.

    SHM leader Roy Kupar Synrem, who is also the General Secretary of CoMSO, said they had informed the Deputy CM that they would further intensify their stir over non-fulfillment.

    “Not just in Shillong, whenever the Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister or any minister visits any part of the state, our members and volunteers would go there to ask questions and remind them as to what happened to our nine-point charter of demands,” he said.

    If the ILP is enforced in entire Meghalaya, like in four other northeastern states — Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Manipur, the state would keep itself out of the purview of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

    The ILP, under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, is an official travel document that allows an Indian citizen into a protected area for a limited period.

    To visit the ILP-governed states, foreign nationals and even people from other states of India need to take a permit from the state government.

    The main aim of the ILP system is to check settlement of other Indian nationals in these states to protect the native population. Protection is also extended to the indigenous people with regard to land, jobs and other facilities.

    Political experts said that ahead of the election to the 60-seat Meghalaya Assembly, agitations on old issues, including ILP, expected to intensify in the mountainous state, which also often witnessed ethnic violence during the agitations of various organisations including the anti-CAA movement.

    In neighbouring Nagaland, amidst the unrest over the non-settlement of the Naga political issue, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said that unresolved issues are behind the backwardness of the state.

    If final solution is reached to the Naga political issue, Assembly elections may be deferred to enable interim arrangements. In the proposed political settlement, increase the number of Assembly constituencies, increase of seats in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the state and economic packages are likely to be considered, the CM had said.

    Rio, the top leader of the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), said that though Nagaland was created in 1963, it was lagging behind in all areas of development while many states that came into existence much later had progressed faster.

  • Nagaland’s united govt leaves BJP’s central leaders jittery

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: The recent formation of the “Nagaland United Government” (NUG) has left the BJP worried so much that its central leadership called Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and the state’s BJP leadership to Delhi.

    Rio’s Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) headed the People’s Democratic Alliance government which is now NUG. With 12 MLAs in the 60-member House, the BJP is a key component of the alliance.

    The Naga People’s Front (NPF), which was the state’s only opposition party with elected members (it has 25 MLAs), was inducted into the government on Monday to make it an “all-party” government.

    The BJP is, however, jittery. It fears that by bringing the NPF on board, Rio is trying to finish off the saffron party in the Christian-majority state which will go to the polls in early 2023.

    According to BJP insiders in the state, the CM was nervous about a possible threat to his chair from a section of saffron party leaders and this made him cozy up to the NPF that he had built brick by brick until deserting it ahead of the 2018 elections.

    ALSO READ | Naga People’s Front joins govt, Nagaland House becomes ‘Opposition-less’

    “Rio has the blessings of the BJP’s central leaders and he is, in any case, going to complete the current term. However, since an attempt is being made to topple his government, he became nervous,” a BJP insider said.

    “The NPF was in the ICU. By inducting it into the government, the CM has revived it,” the BJP insider said, adding, “But this may have dangerous ramifications. The friendship between NDPP and NPF might cost the BJP dear in the 2023 elections.”

    Sources said the BJP state unit had endorsed the all-party government without the approval of the party’s central leaders. The state leaders, however, said the decision was made due to local compulsions.

    “We had to join the all-party government due to certain compulsions. If we had not joined it, people would have said we don’t want a solution to the Naga political problem,” a BJP leader, who is a member of the delegation that is in Delhi, told this newspaper.

    He said they would share everything with the party’s central leadership and abide by its directions.

    The all-party government was formed to facilitate the Naga political issue and achieve a solution that is honorable and acceptable.

    However, as a matter of fact, the Nagaland government hardly has any role to play in the Naga issue which is being negotiated by the various insurgent groups. Opposing NUG, a section of BJP leaders said the united government or opposition-less government has nothing to do with the Naga political solution. 

  • BJP snubs Northeast allies in Modi cabinet rejig

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: The BJP ignored its allies in the Northeast as Prime Minister Narendra Modi reshuffled his ministry on Wednesday.

    Five from the Northeast – Kiren Rijiju (Arunachal), Sarbananda Sonowal, Rameswar Teli (both from Assam), Pratima Bhowmick (Tripura), and Rajkumar Ranjan Singh (Manipur) made the cut. The four states are ruled by the BJP.

    The BJP is a constituent of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP)-headed ruling coalition in Nagaland and National People’s Party (NPP)-led government in Meghalaya. It is also an ally of the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) in Mizoram.

    MNF has two MPs – C Lalrosanga and K Vanlalvena – while NDPP and NPP have one each – Tokheho Yepthomi and Agatha Sangma respectively. Despite being BJP allies, these regional parties were not considered for representation in the Modi government.

    WR Kharlukhi, who is NPP’s Meghalaya unit chief, said the selection of candidates for ministerial berths was Modi’s prerogative.

    ALSO READ | Non-performance and failure in image maintenance prove costly as 12 ministers face axe in Modi’s Cabinet expansion

    “It is the prerogative of the PM. The PM will pick up his men who are good for the administration and I think he has done well. We have no grievances,” Kharlukhi said.

    NDPP president Chingwang Konyak refused to make any comment while MNF leaders were not available on the phone.

    This is for the first time that five from the Northeast were inducted into the central ministry. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh and Pratima Bhowmick are first-timers in the Parliament as well as the ministry.

    Singh, popularly known as RK Ranjan who belongs to an erstwhile royal clan of Manipur, is an academic-turned-politician. He had joined the BJP in 2013 and contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls but lost.

    Pratima, Tripura’s “didi”, is a science graduate who had served BJP’s state unit as the general secretary prior to her election to the Parliament in 2019.

    Earlier, Santosh Mohan Deb and Triguna Sen were inducted into the Union cabinet from Tripura but they were not from the state. Deb hailed from Assam and Sen from West Bengal.