Nagaland: Candidates guided by village election committees, claims NPCC chief

Many candidates in Nagaland are guided by the village election committees, said Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) president K Therie on the eve of elections to the Nagaland state assembly.

“It is something like a teacher being taught by the students or professors being guided by innocent students,” Therie said in a release on January 24.

“In Nagaland, most advanced areas are guided by the decision of unconscious mob. The MLAs are elected and their only work is to loot money and buy votes,” he added.
Saying that the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party’s (NDPP) 2018 election slogan was “change is coming”, the Pradesh Congress chief asked if anyone has seen any change upon “our roads”.

“Has anyone noticed an improvement in the power supply? Has the drinking water supply improved? Have our schools improved? Have we got medical college? Has anyone seen the outdoor stadium under construction for over 30 years,” Therie asked.

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He alleged the NDPP has been fooling the people but still people liked it.

“Our cities and towns are turning into slum areas. Our roads are dusty in winter and muddy in summer. We have the most erratic power supply. We do not have a water supply at Kohima and Dimapur. The basic amenities are in their lowest status,” he said.
When asked about the road condition, Therie said one governor replied to the media “there is no road as the such condition does not arise’. He added the Niti-Aayog termed Nagaland as the worst-performing state.

He also said rampant backdoor appointments, nepotism, biases and ill-will are the norm.
Therie said the BJP and alliance partners think the opposition voters have no share in the public exchequer as they are running a one-sided government. They do not understand the tax is contributed by all and not only by ruling voters, he said.

He pointed out that the Nagaland Joint Christian Forum has come out with a clean election campaign as it feels the election is dirty and responsible for corruption. He said the clean election campaign was necessitated because “elections have become too dirty”.
Therie said many are fighting for BJP and NDPP tickets despite knowing the alliance partner's failures and dangerous trends. “This is an epidemic of foolishness for which there is no medicine to cure,” he added.