Asked state employees to declare kin link with underground outfits on Guv's order: Nagaland govt

Guwahati: The Nagaland government has said the move to issue office memorandum asking state government employees to self-declare regarding their family members and relatives engaged in any underground organisations was done at the direction of Governor RN Ravi.

A government statement on Thursday said the Governor, through the Commissioner and Secretary to Governor, had written to the Chief Secretary expressing desire to “have a database of state government employees’ family members and relatives in underground organizations.”

“The letter required every government employee to make a self-declaration in a format which was enclosed along with the letters. The letter desired members of the Police Department to be segregated and furnished separately,” it said.

The governor's letter had directed the Home Commissioner to keep hard copies of the declaration and send a soft copy to the Governor’s Office by April 2 this year.

Nagaland is ruled by the People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) coalition, which has the regional Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and the BJP as partners.

The statement also clarified that a reminder was sent on June 24 and that the matter was deliberated by the state cabinet in its meeting held on July 3. The office memorandum was issued on July 7.

In the office memorandum Chief Secretary Temjen Toy said all heads of departments were required to obtain information from employees in the attached self-declaration form and submit them to the Home Department, by August 7.

NSCN-IM denounced it as "a retrograde step worked out insidiously to cripple the Naga political movement" and forcefully bring the Naga political issue under the purview of ‘law and order’ issue.