Congress demands the expulsion of the Neiphiu Rio government in Nagaland

• Image Credit: Internet

• Jun 2, 2022 | Kabir Chakraborty

He referred to NSCN(IM)'s allegation that the state's lawmakers were going beyond their 'assigned role' as a facilitator to the Naga political issue and claimed it is an admission that it is the outfit running the state, not the UDA.

color:#0E101A">

color:#0E101A">Digital Desk: The Congress on Wednesday urged Nagaland
Governor Jagdish Mukhi to dismiss the Neiphiu Rio-led all-party United
Democratic Alliance (UDA) government claiming that the administration has
collapsed in the state and is no longer a people's government.

The Congress
submitted a memorandum to the Raj Bhavan in the absence of the Governor,
Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC), President Kewekhape Therie informed
the media.

Though
Congress has set no deadline for the dismissal of the Rio government, he asserted
that the UDA government is no longer a people's government and, therefore, the
party will continue to demand its removal.

He referred
to NSCN(IM)'s allegation that the state's lawmakers were going beyond their
'assigned role' as a facilitator to the Naga political issue and claimed it is
an admission that it is the outfit running the state, not the UDA.

The Congress
had expected that the Nagaland chief minister would deny the allegation, but
"he has not done it so far," Therie said.

Claiming that
the survival of NSCN (IM) and the continuance of the Rio government are
"interdependent", he said, "This is the reason they have no
concrete schedule for a solution to the Naga political issue for the last 25
years”, he added.

He said, the
government has been allowing extortion deliberately on all items, which is
impacting prices, and even people take their disputes to "insurgent
courts" now.

"Administration
has long collapsed".

Referring to
Rio's statement on Tuesday that as a facilitator of the Naga peace process, the
government cannot voice anything except bringing the negotiators together,
Theire said it proved that the Rio government is no longer a people's
government.

"Does
Rio represent the people of Nagaland? If he does not, why should he sit in the
chair of people's government? He should be discharged to facilitate
implementation of the political solution," he added.

On the Core
Committee of the Nagaland government approaching Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma
to moderate the discussions, he said, "It is the submission of the
sovereign powers of the state government to the Assam government."

Therie is
however not happy with the intervention of Sarma in the matter and wondered why
the Core Committee of the Nagaland government went to the chief minister of
another state.