Kashmir model of lotus operation in Nagaland will abrogate Article 371 (A): Congress media coordinator

All India Congress Committee (AICC) media coordinator Mahima Singh on February 3 said the Kashmir model of lotus operation in Nagaland will lead to the abrogation of Article 371 (A) which gives special status to the state.

Addressing the media at Congress Bhavan, Singh sought to point out that the BJP tore apart the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in J&K to proceed with the unconstitutional abrogation of Article 370. 

She said the state is now bereft of its statehood and its people are without special status. She said the BJP had dumped those who are responsible for its existence, citing examples of PDP in J&K and the National People’s Party in Meghalaya.

Mahima Singh said Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio’s Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) is going to meet the same fate as that of PDP in Kashmir since the Enforcement Directorate reached the chief minister’s office in 2022, leading the people of Nagaland in the “dungeons” of draconian laws like Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).

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“While the corruption-laden Rio government has shown the way into operation lotus and the Hindu Rashtra project of the BJP, the chief minister has become obsequious to the BJP,” the Congress leader said.

She said the BJP will swear on the UCC for the 2024 general elections in deliberate ignorance of the unique identity of the 17 Naga tribes out of a total of 705 recognised tribes in the country.

According to her, with the draconian CAA, along with NRC, the innocent people of Nagaland will be rendered homeless as they might not be able to show the papers the saffron party asks for.

Singh quoted Naga People’s Front president and former chief minister Surhozelie Liezietsu’s statement that “there are elements fiercely and furiously doing the utmost to pierce the Trishul into the heartland of Christ”.

She asked Rio whether he will allow the Hindu nation resolve of the BJP to pierce through the unique culture of the Nagas or he will speak up.

Also, asking whether the Nagas will allow the “politics of slogans” to overpower the “politics of indigenous rights”, Singh questioned, “Will the voters of Nagaland stand against politics of polarization, hatred and Hinduisation of their cultures.”

“Will the Nagas stand up for their origin and culture to oust a weak government that is leaving them vulnerable,” she further asked.