Congress General Secretary and Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Randeep Singh Surjewala has said on Tuesday that only the Congress Party and its candidate for Nagaland Lok Sabha seat , ‘superman’ S Supongmeren Jamir can stand and speak for the protection of the rights of the Nagas which are under attack in the present day.
Addressing a rally at Supermarket, Dimapur, Surjewala stated that it is the responsibility of each citizen to rise up against the “sinister design” of the BJP and its allies that is propagating a “culture of hate and division”. Alleging the BJP of planning to change the Constitution, which is the repository of diversity, pluralism and secularism, the Congress leader stated that if the Constitution is changed, Article 371 (A) could be changed too.
Under such scenario, Surjewala questioned if NDPP and the Nagaland Chief Minister would be able stand up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi against changing the Constitution, against the implementation of Uniform Civil Code, Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and the abrogation of Free Movement Regime.
He further questioned why the ‘oppositionless’ government in Nagaland, with its ally at the Centre has not been able to deliver solution to the protracted Naga political issue and stated that Framework Agreement signed in 2015 has become another ‘jumla’ (false promise) of the BJP government.
Surjewala assured that with Jamir in the Parliament and Congress at the Centre, they will provide a solution to the Naga issue as per “your satisfaction”.
Earlier, Congress and INDIA consensus candidate S Supongmeren Jamir commented that the People’s Democratic Alliance’s candidate is a “very good person” but his Party is wrong.
In his address, Jamir criticized CM Rio for claiming that BJP is not anti-Christian and anti-minority when he should be talking about NDPP being a Naga Party. On Deputy CM TR Zeliang’s allegation that the Congress is only talking about religion, Jamir said that they will talk about it because they are trying to protect it. The Congress candidate further urged the public not to tolerate the insult hurled by Deputy CM Y Patton when he asked village leader, polling agents to break the law and cast votes for everybody else.
Meanwhile, Supongmeren Jamir asserted that he will always be with the Naga people and with the minorities.
Joel Rengma, President of Rising People’s Party, stated in his speech that while PDA candidate is the “BJP consensus candidate”, Jamir is the “Naga consensus candidate”. He alleged the NDPP-BJP alliance have begun using money, but remained hopeful that the people are with the Congress candidate.
In an attack at CM Rio, Rengma stated that when he became the chief minister in 2023, there were four or five factions but today there are around 24 factions. “This is his Naga solution,” he stated.
During the rally at Dimapur, Girish Chodankar, AICC incharge of Nagaland informed that Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge could not attend the rally due to ill health.
He also informed that he, along with Party leaders from the State, met with the Chief Election Officer in Kohima on Monday regarding the reported booth capturing claims by the NDPP-BJP in various constituencies and the CEO has assured that the Commission would do everything to prevent such incidences.