Dimapur: The Rising People’s Party (RPP) in Nagaland on Sunday not only condemned the death threats issued to K Rulho, proprietor of M/s KKB Rulho, by the NSCN (Khango) but also slammed the NDPP-BJP coalition government in Nagaland for passing the buck to the Cease Fire Monitoring Group (CFMG)/Cease Fire Supervisory Board (CFSB) on the issue.

In a statement issued by its president Zoel Naga and vice president Vitho Zao, the RPP also said the various civil society organisations, including the youth and the business/trade bodies, need not bypass the government on the issue.

“The elephant in the room is the state government which has totally failed to uphold law and order in the state. To recap, maintenance of law and order is a state subject, not the outlook of CFMG/CFSB,” the statement said.

The RPP said never to take responsibility for anything, the state government has once again passed the buck to CFMG/CFSB, perhaps taking a hint from a certain organisation.

It also reminded deputy chief minister Y Patton that “you do not ‘request’ anti-social elements to refrain from anti-people activities – you arrest”.

Also, alleging that the unwillingness of the political leadership to give a free hand to the state police force continues, the RPP said the state police are more than capable of tackling the issue of extortion within a weeks’ time.

It also rued that today no organisation is willing to bell the cat called the state government. “Unless this reality is accepted and digested, the Sword of Damocles will continue to swing over our heads,” the party added.

Alleging that the Neiphiu Rio-led NPF government first came to power in 2003 with the help of a certain faction, the RPP said it was a political alliance to dislodge the then SC Jamir ministry.

It added after winning the election, Rio’s government immediately unleashed its policy of “equi-closeness” with all the factional groups when there were barely 4-5 factions operational in the state.

The party noted that this policy legitimized all the factions and their anti-people activities while the government of India, taking advantage of this policy, also wasted no time in implementing its “divide and rule” policy.

It said this was the genesis of the mushrooming of factional groups in the state.

Maintaining that their number stands at 24 today, the RPP said for the last 21 years, Rio has been giving operational freedom to the factions and in return he continued to cling on to power unchallenged.

Bhadra Gogoi is Northeast Now Correspondent in Nagaland. He can be reached at: [email protected]