Dimapur, January 28 (MExN): The Congress Legislature Party (CLP), Nagaland says the genesis of the ongoing agitation of the Eastern Naga Students’ Federation (ENSF) can be traced to the ‘culture’ of corruption, nepotism and favoritism that the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) government ushered in during the past nine years.
The CLP held Nyeiwang Konyak, Minister of Education responsible for the current decay in the education sector. For the past four years, CLP chief Tokheho Yepthomi stated in a note today, the minister has been embroiled in various corruptions and scandals. Among these are misuse of funds, misuse of RMSA and SSA funds provided by the government of India for free education of children at primary and elementary level, bogus appointment of teachers. The ‘bogus teachers’ scam continues to be highlighted by the Congress demanding removal as the minister.
“The genesis of the ongoing agitation can be traced to the mass corruption, nepotism, favoritism perpetrated by the DAN Govt. for the last nine years and in which Nyeiwang Konyak as the Education Minister for the past four years has been embroiled in various corruptions and scandals, most notably the grant-in aid to private schools, misuse of RMSA & SSA funds provided by Govt. of India for free education of children at primary & elementary level, bogus appointment of teachers and for which the NPCC has highlighted on many occasions demanding his removal as the Minister,” the CLP leader stated.
The ongoing ENSF agitation on the issue of teachers’ recruitment and restoration of posts in Mon, Tuengsang, Longleng and Kiphire has once again exposed the indifference of the DAN government, the CLP said.
“The ENSF preventing the Assembly Speaker, Cabinet Minister and Parliamentary Secretaries of the DAN government from entering the four districts and hoisting the National Flag on the 63rd Republic Day is enough for the DAN government to gauge the sentiments of the public mood generated from nine years of its misrule. Failure of its ministers and parliamentary secretaries to hoist the tricolor on a Red Letter Day of the nation indicates the total breakdown of the government machinery and that it has no moral right to continue,” Yepthomi stated.
According to the opposition, the minister and the School Education department have once again abdicated their responsibility by asking the ENSF to “bring the list/details of the post transferred out of Eastern Naga areas in the past along with the list of schools where there were shortage of teachers and whatever details available in the shortest possible time.” The appeal proves the inefficiency of the department as it ought to have maintained all the records in the first place and asking the ENSF to submit the list/details is nothing but a knee jerk response to delay and wear off the agitation, the CLP said. “It also portrays the inefficiency of the minister in discharging his duties and responsibilities as minister in charge of school education.”
The factors responsible for the present ENSF agitation and the inept response of the DAN government to defuse it are an indication of the total breakdown of the state government. “It is pertinent to mention that the Education department is the backbone of building up future generations. With various corruptions and scandals being unearthed in the department, it goes on to show how much the DAN government has shown its indifference to thousands of students especially from less privileged backgrounds whose futures are at stake,” the CLP leader said.
The CLP has demanded that Education Minister Nyeiwang Konyak take moral responsibility for the mess created and step down or the Chief Minister “who is presently busy with state elections in Manipur with total disregard to the voice of the people from four districts in his own backyard”, wakes up from his reverie and remove Konyak. The minister has brought enough embarrassment and humiliation for the DAN government with his inept handling and lack of knowledge to run the department other than indulging in corruption, the congress said.
