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Journalism of Courage
For 15 years (2003-18), as the Naga People’s Front (NPF) ruled Nagaland, it had the BJP as its partner. However, its fortunes nosedived after the 2018 elections, when the BJP broke ties with it to join the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), and the two together went on to form the government, keeping out the NPF, which was the single-largest party. Last year, the NPF joined hands with the state government to seek a common solution to the Naga political problem, rendering the state virtually “Opposition-less”. Further depleting the NPF as a force, 21 of its MLAs crossed over to the NDPP in 2022, leaving it with four MLAs. Stripped of its most prominent faces, the party is contesting this time in just 22 of the 60 seats in Nagaland. NPF president Shurhozelie Liezietsu speaks to The Indian Express about the party’s prospects and how it hopes to take advantage of the constantly shifting tides in Nagaland politics. Excerpts:
What is your assessment of the NPF’s current position?
We were in power for some time, but we lost the 2018 election. Although we emerged as the single largest party with 26 MLAs, we could not form the government. We made mistakes after mistakes. Finally, my MLAs surrendered. I had jokingly said then: ‘What can a party do when its football players in the tournament score a suicide goal and go away?’
To be frank, we could not get the time to reorganise. We have been trying our best. We have fielded only 22 candidates. Our reading is that nobody knows what will happen. Only God knows what the arrangement [for government formation] will be. So, we are watching very closely. At the same time, we are working very hard for our candidates. But since we could not get time to prepare carefully, we have been facing some difficulties. It is quite natural.
Perhaps not this time, but I can assure people that we will take over again in the next election. We will be fully prepared. This time, the government will certainly be formed through alliances. Whenever we get a chance, we will try to take advantage of it. We will do our best.
So you do not feel like your troubles will last?
This time, nine national parties (not rooted in Nagaland) have entered the fray. Some of these parties will go away after the election. Even if one or two win, they may merge with some other parties. That is very common here in Nagaland. We will remain till the Naga political issue is solved. We are not in a hurry. We might face rough weather, but we are not worried because we stand on a firm foundation. People might feel that we are in great trouble but we all sleep well at night.
You refer to mistakes after the 2018 elections… What were they?
I do not want to blame anybody…It was the fault of our players on the field. Our players are our MLAs in the Assembly. But there is no time for us to blame them. We have to take those mistakes as lessons to learn. Twenty-one of our MLAs defected to the NDPP in the hope of getting tickets and money for this election. Out of them, 14 have already been left out. Only seven survive. Out of those seven, we do not know how many will return to the Assembly.
Defection is the worst disease of the Nagaland government. Stability cannot be maintained. Without stability, there cannot be any development and in Nagaland, there is no proper development.
Do you have any regrets about being with the BJP earlier?
We worked together with the BJP for quite some time. I was a minister and chairman of the coordination committee for more than 10 years and I think I gave full protection to the BJP. In those days, the BJP was also a partner, not like how they behave today. In 2014, when the BJP came to power in Delhi, we were very happy because our partner had taken over. They then changed completely. But we have no regrets. With (Chief Minister Neiphiu) Rio also, we have no regret (the NDPP was formed by NPF rebels supporting Rio) because we are focused on protecting regional interests.
We did not behave badly towards them (the BJP). It went away on own, in search of greener pastures… Our story is sometimes very funny, sometimes sad. But as a regional party, we are quite happy. We do not have any worries because our conscience is always clear.
