Less than a year after “Miyah poetry” has kicked up a storm in Assam, Nagaland’s Dy. Chief Minister Y. Patton has attracted criticism for referring the Nagas of a specific area as ‘Miya’.
It is a pejorative term in the northeast meaning Bengali-speaking or Bengal-origin Muslims.
The National People’s Party (NPP) on Saturday issued a statement criticising Mr. Patton for equating the people of the Ralan area of the Wokha district with Miya. The Deputy Chief Minister, also BJP Legislative Party chief, allegedly used the term while speaking at a convention of the Lotha Students’ Union (LSU) at Maratchu on January 28.
“He nursed a long-held grudge for getting fewer votes from the Ralan area in the past Assembly elections, and despite being a Lotha himself, called them ‘Miya jaat [race]’,” NPP leader Hayithung Bill Lotha said.
Mr. Lotha said Mr. Patton had used the term “intentionally to connote a most appalling and derogatory category” of people, thereby insulting both the Muslims and the Lotha Nagas, one of the 16 official tribes of Nagaland.
Mr. Patton said his speech in the Lotha dialect had been twisted. He also denied having claimed to facilitate backdoor appointments through the Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC).
In a bid to defend him, the Lotha Students’ Union (LSU) admitted that the NPSC exams and interviews were not fair. The Deputy Chief Minister had made the speech at the LSU’s 51st general convention at Maratchu.
“Shri Y. Patton, directly made a point that any merit candidate from the Lotha community who qualifies in the NPSC written exam or any State department exam must come to him so that he will make sure proper justice will be done (sic)...,” LSU president Lipemo M. Tsopoe said in a letter to the apex Naga Students’ Federation on Sunday.
The LSU also said Mr. Patton had assured incentives for any Lotha candidate who clears the Union Public Service Commission.
Vicca S. Aye, who wrote a letter on behalf of the NPSC aspirants to Governor R.N. Ravi seeking action against Mr. Patton, filed a complaint at a police station in Dimapur town on Sunday after receiving death threats.
