New NM Bill would face no opposition in the Assembly: Azo

Comments on a range of topics from property tax to infighting in the NPF

Morung Express News 
Dimapur | November 7

The 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly is scheduled for a special seating on November 9. The session, will likely witness the Nagaland Municipal (NM) Bill, 2023, being put to vote with the provision for reserving 33 percent of seats in the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) intact but without a provision for property tax. 

The Neiphiu Rio-led government appears confident but with the spectre of the violent upheaval of 2017 and tribal hohos hanging overhead. 

According to the Leader of the NPF Legislature Party, Küzholüzo (Azo) Nienü, the state government is well aware of what happened in 2017 and in order to avoid a repeat, had repealed the NM Act of 2001 and has come up with the new NM Bill. The Bill would face no opposition in the Assembly and passed unanimously, said a confident Azo in a recent interview. 

In the interview, he responded to a range of queries, including the NM Bill, property tax, Prohibition, Article 371 (A), relaxing land (holding system) law, Naga political issue, and the infighting in his party.

Property tax
Nagas have an antagonistic attitude towards statutory taxation, which would explain why a provision for property tax is missing in the 2023 NM Bill, unlike in the now repealed NM Act of 2001. Azo was of the opinion that he was not averse to “nominal taxation,” but property tax should not be imposed in general. “As per our customary practices, there is no property tax. But as a Naga citizen, we have also been contributing taxes in our own customary ways,” he said.

For a place like Dimapur “to function well,” he proposed a system where commercial properties are charged nominal taxes, leaving residential properties untouched.

Prohibition
“I expect the church to come out stronger against lifting (liquor prohibition law) but as a common man, as a leader, the ground reality is very different from what we imagine. Total prohibition has been a total failure,” he said. According to him, the demerits outnumber the merits of the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act. 

As opposed to the revenue argument, he said that the emphasis should be on health and preventing premature deaths caused by consuming adulterated alcohol. While stating that people will even go to Myanmar to get their drinks, he remarked, “If you cannot stop others from drinking, I think the best way is to lift it, give them quality drinks.”   

He named lack of political will combined with the strong opposition from the church and perhaps, the fear of divine intervention (retribution) as the reasons that could be stopping the government from lifting the Prohibition law.

Art 371 (A) & land
Nagaland’s traditional system of land-ownership is often cited as one of the major barriers to the so called ‘development.’ The argument over ‘tradition or development’ cannot occur without the mention of Article 371 (A). “Any law has its merits and demerits, so also article 371 (A),” he said. In the case of Article 371 (A), he said that the ‘merits’ outweigh the ‘demerits.’ He though admitted to the special Article of the Indian Constitution coming in the way of certain development activities like building a road or expanding one.  

At a public function in September, the Chief Minister advocated for relaxing “land laws” for attracting external investments. More recently, on November 2, the Deputy Chief Minister, TR Zeliang echoed a similar view. 

Azo also concurred with the state introducing a land law that would be in the interest of economic growth, at the same time, protecting the prevailing traditional land-holding system.

Naga Political issue
“I don’t know what the future holds, but as of now it is very dim. Nobody is taking interest,” he said of the Indo-Naga political issue. He underscored the necessity of “political will,” but he held that if the Naga Political Groups do not arrive at a consensus “nothing will happen.” “Will the Naga Political Groups come together and agree to a common agenda? That’s the biggest question,” he added. 

As for the NPF, he said that it stands for the common Naga cause.

NPF infighting
For a party that dominated the Nagaland electoral landscape for 3 consecutive terms, the NPF went on to be plagued by internal power struggle and today reduced to 2 members in the Assembly. More recently, it faced turmoil within the ranks over the party presidency, for which Azo was the other contender. The presidency went to the party’s longtime Working President Apong Pongener to the resentment of Azo’s supporters. 

“Both of us are leaders in our own way. I control the legislative wing, he will control the party. And, so we have to work together,” he said, while adding, “Let bygones be bygones.” 

He attributed the “downfall” of the NPF, in recent years, to infighting within the party. “It’s a sad story, but that’s the truth,” he claimed.