Members of the Naga community participate in a rally organised by the United Naga Council. File photo
| Photo Credit: PTI
An apex body of Nagas in Manipur has barred Congress MP Alfred Kanngam S. Arthur and two others from public platforms and holding any position or leadership in the Naga society for seven years with immediate effect.
The other two are S. Kho John and Allyson Abonmai, who contested the Outer Manipur Lok Sabha constituency as independents. They finished third and fourth behind Mr Arthur and Kachui Timothy Zimik of Naga People’s Front (NPF).
In a public notification on June 13, the United Naga Council (UNC) said it took the action against the trio as they “purposively defied and failed to respect and honour to the position“ of the UNC in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections and “their wilful attempt to challenge the Naga peoples’ position and its spirit of unity”.
They “are hereby debarred from public platforms, and holding any position or leadership in the Naga society for a period of seven years with immediate effect,” the notification signed by H. James Hau, the information and publicity secretary of the UNC read.
The Naga body directed all its constituent units, subordinate or associate units and the Naga populace to uphold the resolution and enforce accordingly in their respective jurisdiction.
Mr Arthur and Mr Zimik belong to the Tangkhul community while Mr John is a Poumai and Mr Abonmai a Liangmai.
The notification has been slammed on social media platforms for not naming Mr Zimik, who lost the Outer Manipur seat to Mr Arthur by 85,418 votes. The NPF’s Lorho S. Pfoze had won the seat in 2019.
It has also been seen as a reaction to the NPF’s failure in retaining Outer Manipur although the UNC said the decision was “pursuant to resolution number 1” it had adopted in its emergency assembly on May 29, a week before the election results were announced.
The election in Outer Manipur, encompassing 28 Assembly segments, was spread across two phases on April 19 and April 26. The Kuki-Zo organisations abstained from participating in the polls to protest the government’s failure in checking the ongoing ethnic conflict but the campaign in Outer Manipur was marked by violence and attacks on the Congress candidate, allegedly by Naga extremists.
