The Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said that the main issue in Nagaland was not the consumption of beef but of development. The Bharatiya Janata Party is all set to form a government in Nagaland after the election results came in.
In an interview with the Hindustan Times, Rijiju said, “Beef is not an issue, the Congress tried to raise it but our focus is on development.”
The Nationalist Democratic People’s Party and the BJP managed to get hold of 32 seats in the 60-seater state Assembly. According to Rijiju BJP won because its focus was on development and not on other “not important” matters.
He said, “The Naga people have reposed faith in the BJP. We won’t disappoint them.” Rijiju added that a historic victory in Tripura would not let Congress come back to power. In Meghalaya too the same happened, despite being the single-largest party.
For the new government, the top priority is the finding of a solution to the Naga crisis. In addition, the biggest challenge before the election was to break the election boycott announced by 10 political outfits.
Rijiju added that the saffron party could not reach an alliance agreement with the Naga People’s Front due to differences in seat-sharing demands. However, the two parties “share the same views on peace and development of the region”.