Congress moves Nagaland guv with oust-Imchen plea

DIMAPUR: Accusing Imkong L Imchen of violating the oath of secrecy that he had taken while swearing in as the state home minister, the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) on Thursday said he had lost the moral right to continue in the cabinet and the assembly. "By saying that he was not happy with the current constitutionalarrangement, Imchen has openly rejected Nagaland's statehood," the NPCC said,urging the governor to take cognizance of his "blatant anti-constitutionalideology" and ask chief minister Neiphiu Rio to remove him from the ministry."Let Imchen clarify whether he is a cabinet minister in accordancewith the terms of a 16-point agreement or beyond it," it said.Imchenwas recently in news for his comments on the Naga political issue and hiscriticism of the Centre for delaying peace talks with the NSCN(IM). "We are notsatisfied with statehood only," he said during a recent function of the NagaPeoples' Front (NPF), organized to felicitate the newly-elected NPF MLA fromAonglenden constituency.On Thursday, the NPPC claimed that theCongress and the NPF "are two opposing parties and have nothing in common as faras political ideologies and principles are concerned". It added, "However, onthe Naga political issue, it appears that despite having formed the JointLegislators' Forum (JLF), the NPF has either a hidden agenda or it is trying toimpose its perspective on the Congress. Wasn't the objective of forming the JLFon the Naga political issue aimed at removing such differences and finding acommon ground?" Coming down heavily on the home minister, theCongress said Imchen should know that all the 60 elected members, irrespectiveof whether they belonged to the NPF, the Congress or other political parties,had "pledged to bear true faith to the Constitution of India". The nationalparty added, "By being involved in the recent stately elections (overtly orcovertly), all Nagas, including those associated with underground groups, havebecome part and parcel of Nagaland politics."The NPCC observed thatthe home minister's question as to whether the Congress was satisfied with the16-point agreement and is it was a final solution for the party "was a deathtrap question not for the Congress but for the Nagas in general".The state Congress committee reiterated that it was no longer relevant to draw a parallel between the 16-point agreement and the 'Bedrock of Naga Society'.