Khekiye K. Sema IAS (Rtd)
On June 11th 2013 Nagaland Post splashed a red lettered headline “MHA bombshell to State’s oil business”. Without doubt, oil exploration and extraction would provide the much needed economic leverage to the people and State’s exchequer. However, the bigger worrisome picture for the Naga at this juncture is the legal interpretation of Article 371(A) by the GOI. Is it subordinate to the 7th Schedule of the Indian Constitution? The moment Article 371 (A) is diluted and its sanctity questioned, the core spirit of the foundation of the State of Nagaland gets shaken. We would be reduced to a non-entity, a run of the mill State. This is a subject matter of grave importance concerning the Naga identity and its future status within the Indian Union. It is incumbent upon the State Government and the legal luminaries to stand firm and ask the GOI to unequivocally define their position on Article 371 (A) once for all. This is an exercise that should promptly be taken forward with absolute urgency. Our future will be defined by this and we will know where we stand.
At this point however, my attention was drawn towards another news item tucked away in an insignificant top left hand corner which read “Wokha Police seek Imchen’s prosecution”. If you don’t believe me check it out (Nagaland Post 11th June 2013) publication for yourself. This is your one time Deputy Commissioner saying “Well done Wokha Police”. I sincerely mean it. Had it been in any other State or Country, that news caption would have hit the ceiling and hogged all the front pages not only in red but in all kinds of colors. Sadly it did not happen that way. We are however grateful that the matter was at least reported if at all by the Post or else the public would have been left in the dark. When a prominent public figure is featured in a corruptive frame, and yet draws a complete silence and inaction from the citizens of the State, it is time to say that all of us should take a trip to Vellor to examine the malignancy of our ailing mind. Something is terribly wrong with us!
Hello Mr. People…Are there no responsible and honorable civil societies left alive out there, with a presence of mind and a desire for justice? Hello Mr. NBCC…did you not give us an impression that the Church was serious about clean election and that you intend to continue your campaign against it with vigour? Well, even a common man on the street knows that this is a serious pending criminal case related to ‘clean election’, violation of Arms Act, violation of prohibition law all perpetuated by a contesting candidate, having being caught red handed, and is now in public office. Does NBCC have a different definition for a “clean election”? If not this is a matter straight up their alley. Did NBCC not spearhead the inducement of a prohibition law? When a glaring case of violation of that law that they induced takes place by a responsible personality before their face, did they stand up and cry out for justice to be done? Are they all afraid that the Government will refuse to patronize them if they took a public stand on this? With what conscience would they stand before their congregation? A spineless leadership is no leadership at all! Our inaction can only lead our society towards further degeneration and we will be a part of that rot. Does that bother them? Their action or the lack of it will answer this question.
I have no personal axe to grind against Mr. Imkong L. Imchen as a person per say. It is more a matter of public morality and ethics which warrants even those who are in high places to be held accountable, in fact more so. In the first place the present Government was expected to do the honorable thing by asking Mr. Imkong to clear his name against the criminal case registered and pending against him before being inducted. Here too the Government has shown no moral courage or principle. Everyone understands the simple reason for their inability to do the honorable thing… they are after all “bird of the same feather”. Mr. Imkong just happened to be the unlucky joker of the pack having been caught with his tail in the rat trap. Even in the face of such blatant impropriety we the moronic civil society along with our ‘clean election’ brother Church kept mum. In a sense the Government is dishing out cesspit content into our plate because we deserve it. So let’s eat it with a smile shall we?
Protocol demands that the Police seek for sanction from the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly to prosecute the accused incumbent since he is holding an important public office as a Minister of Health and Family Welfare. If it is confirmed that the Hon’ble Speaker has already received the letter from the Police seeking for sanction on the 10th May 2013, why should it take so long to have the same cleared? In other civilized world the civil societies would have been out in the streets clamoring for law to take its course so that justice is delivered. If this subject is left to the political big wigs without public pressure, they are likely to turn a blind eye, stall for time till it fades from public scrutiny and finally let the issue die a natural death. The fact that the public is still not in the know as to whether the Hon’ble Speaker has given his clearance/sanction even after a lapse of one month+ gives serious cause for suspicion. It would not surprise anyone if the upstairs are not already twisting the arm of the Speaker to go slow. But why should the Government even harbor doubts? Mr. Imkong has clearly made a public statement that he did not know how Rs.1.10 crore, arms and ammunition and liquor got into his own vehicle; this could have very well been the work of his opponent wanting to blackmail him; Mr. Imkong was sure that he had committed no offence and that the truth will prevail when law takes its course. Surely his colligoose (colleagues) in the Government believe him. If the DGP has also been sounded of this what initiative has he taken so far to speed up the matter? I’m sure this innocent man would be in a tearing hurry to clear his name. Then why the delay in letting law take its course and torture the poor soul to go through the indignity of having his honesty and integrity being questioned like this? It is counterproductive to have the shadow of doubt linger over the shoulders of the Government. It is their own interest that the matter is sorted out one way or the other quickly. At the end of the day, it probably won’t be such a herculean task to find a pliable Judge to wipe the slate clean anyway.
As for the good old citizens, having failed to recognize and bear the responsibility thus far, do the civil societies, NGOs, Churchs and the youth organizations ‘vote again’ to let this matter be laid to rest without question in the fashion of the clean election we have had? If so, let us never again complain about corruption in high places. Instead let us fervently pray that the powers that be improve their performance to carry out their inherent itch in a more professional and tactful manner without getting easily and carelessly caught red handed. Let the bombshell be left unexploded. Amen.
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