KL Chishi. (Morung Photo)
Morung Express News
Dimapur | May 25
Despite losing, Congress candidate from Nagaland State in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, KL Chishi, sounded upbeat describing the electoral defeat as “a battle lost but not the war.”
“I lost with pride and honour. I discovered that I was loved by the people… that I was commanding a certain amount of affection of the people,” Chishi told a press conference at his residence in Dimapur on May 25.
He compared the defeat to the Battle of Waterloo but with a local twist, commenting, “I lost the battle of Mon.”
On the day of counting, he led for most of the day before the focus shifted to Mon, which proved decisive in favour of BJP ally- NDPP’s Tokheho Yepthomi.
Chishi lost by a 16,344 vote-margin registering a total of 4,84,166 votes against Yepthomi’s 5,00,510 votes. The winning margin for Yepthomi against the NPF’s C Apok Jamir in the 2018 bye election to the Nagaland Parliamentary seat was 1,55,922.
According to him, it was a first in Nagaland State for a party without a single legislator in the Assembly and with a rather weak organizational setup to have been able to put up a formidable fight against a ruling party/alliance.
He described the Congress-NPF alliance as based on issues that aroused the sentiment of the electorate. The Congress with “our national political agenda and the NPF with their regional political agenda got together on the principle of achieving a common goal for Nagaland and Nagas anywhere.”
He spelled out four main issues, besides economic development, which the two former foes stood for- settlement of the Indo-Naga political issue, opposing the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), opposing the introduction of the Uniform Civil Code and opposing any move to remove the word “secular” from the Preamble to the Constitution of India.
While killings have been contained to some extent as a result of the peace talks, he held that of late “our people have not been sincere enough to arouse the minds of the Government of India to the needs of the Naga people.”
The CAB, which has so far not been able to win over the Rajya Sabha, he said, would further aggravate the situation for the indigenous communities of the North East. “If passed, the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873 would become redundant.”
He said that the hidden motive of the BJP, by introducing a Uniform Civil Code in the country and by amending the Preamble, has been to promote the concept of a “Hindu republic,” which would affect the culture and customs of not only the Nagas but also other minorities.
“We have to uphold pluralism but unfortunately it appears the country is heading towards division.”
He regarded the neck-to-neck vote count to support not only from the NPF but also from other “likeminded people” from the BJP and NDPP workers. He attributed the claim of support from members of the opposing parties to “conscience vote.”
On his future trajectory and position in the Congress, Chishi said that he will remain a Congressman. “My time of shifting and testing is over. Now, I have found a real hope and I will dwell in it,” he said. As far as contesting again is concerned, he said that it will be subject to what life ahead brings as well as health.
