Khekiye K Sema IAS (Retd.)
Dimapur
We, the Nagas, seem to deliberately want to suffer from short memory. Otherwise, we ought to recall that not long in the recent past, both FNR and ACAUT had earnestly tried their very best to establish some sanity by trying to bring the warring Factions together in their own respective ways: the former through Christian spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation; the latter through public pressure for streamlining the insane ‘National taxation’ norms by projecting “one Government, one tax”. FNR’s effort was laudable in that it managed to halt the trigger happy Factions to control their itching fingers on their AK47, for the first time and thereby eased the pressure on the masses from desperate fear psychosis of being in harm’s way on a daily basis. However, if we were to pause for a moment and ask a simple question: what were the Factions killing each other for? It was not for any high sounding political ideology but purely for absolute ‘greed tax’ control over territories. The unintended side effect however was that the Factions stopped fighting each other and instead agreed to share the taxing rights on the beasts of burden (i.e. the masses) without hindering one another. Today most of the Factions sit together in all the State entry gates along with our policemen, all happily collecting tax with total abandon and causing severe cost escalation of all the essential commodities in Nagaland. Further drama displayed by NSCN (IM) was their absolute sense of insecurity in forging unity with other factions. They therefore intricately fabricated a complex web of their stand on the so-called ‘national principle’, based on which they perfunctorily asked for forgiveness from all the Factions even as they too forgave others for all the past omissions and commissions, but in the same breath made the whole exercise redundant and meaningless when they asked all Factions to come and join ‘their mainstream’. They violated the very spirit of Christian forgiveness by not acknowledging the status of equality of all involved in the aftermath scenario of forgiveness. The under current here had a great deal to do with egocentric inabilities within the upper echelons of NSCN (IM) cadre unwilling to put their leadership position at risk. This equation is not about to change come what may! Today, the problem has further been compounded with NSCN (IM) having shifted the goalpost at the final hour after having concluded the negotiation…by uncompromisingly coming up with the subject of Flag and Yehzabo afresh…which, along with the issue of integration, had already been agreed in principle to be addressed in the future through due democratic process. In all honesty, this ‘due democratic process’… stick and carrot policy of the GoI… leaves much to be desired by way of past experiences. The 16 Point agreement had the issue of “integration” that was also kept suspended to be sorted out through ‘due democratic process’ that, after all these years, has still not happened. Honor in the court of the GoI is highly suspect and therefore NSCN (IM), as indeed the Nagas, has every reason to question its sincerity. NSCN (IM) has therefore deliberately and understandably left no space for compromise and reconciliation with GoI on this issue. “What must be salvaged must be salvaged before the final settlement” is a rational sentiment, considering the trust deficit factor on the part of the adversary. The time tested stubbornness of NSCN (IM) under the leadership of Th. Muivah is therefore understandable. He has generated a severe log jam that has vitiated the atmosphere of uncertainty to the otherwise concluded negotiation of the Indo-Naga political settlement. Having said this however, we ought to broaden our horizon and analyze the other unchartered chapter as to why NSCN (IM) has adopted this unwavering stance. Th. Muivah must be given credit where credit is due. For better or for worse, he has definitely sacrificed his entire life for the National cause and this much must respectfully be acknowledged. However, the stark truth lies in the fact that there is no relevant platform for Th. Muivah to occupy after the final Indo-Naga political settlement is arrived at. In the absence of integration he cannot claim the chair of Chief Minister of Nagaland. At best he can be the Chief Executive Councilor of the Regional Autonomous Council of the Naga territory in Manipur, far removed from an aspiration as “the Father of the Nation” and would perhaps not be considered by him as commensurate to the sacrifice he has made. Now consider the present reality: Th. Muivah commands a very strong clandestine presence in all the Naga territories of Arunachal, Manipur and Nagaland and would prefer to die in harness, maintaining this unquestioned ironclad authority rather than be reduced to only a small base in Manipur at the end of his life’s journey. It is apparent that this problem of placement of Miuvah in the aftermath of the solution is far more significant than meets the eyes. It is no wonder therefore that a fervent attempt is being made to recreate a similar overreaching platform called the Pan Naga Hoho defined as a ‘statuary cultural body’ but with an overriding “mandatory authority” over statuary governments in all the Naga territories of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland as intended in their undisclosed “competency clauses”, with Muivah as its Chairman perhaps, who would want to continue imposing his will on all the Naga territories, integrated or not. Unless the Nagas of Nagaland is totally devoid of grey matter, such a bizarre set up is something that is absolutely unacceptable and unpalatable. It must strongly be opposed. The GoI ought to observe a modicum of honor, for a change, in not enacting an Act of Parliament to create a statuary cultural body such as Pan Naga Hoho by violating the very basic foundry of Article 371A where customs, tradition, culture etc. is clearly a State Subject.
The above narration represents the overall reality canvas. It would therefore appear that our very own ‘responsible’ elected political fraternity has consciously and willingly compromised all their ethical sense of dignity, honor, credibility and legitimacy of their existence. In any given democracy a strong opposition is a mandatory requirement to ensure fair and transparent governance. Therefore, no matter how eloquent the hype concerning the so-called “Opposition-less” Government, it is woefully apparent that the bottom line is MONEY as the only driving force that dictates all the thinking process in the minds of all the Ali Babas in the Assembly. The very backbone of democracy has been mortally fractured over and over again in Nagaland by the very people we elect …term after term…with corruption becoming a way of life…but the worst part of the story is that our people will still continue selling their votes to them yet again, come election, no matter how damning and crippling their performances has been, in trampling upon the well being of the common man. Now that the general election is around the corner, we are being made to suffer the comedy of an ‘opposition-less’ State Legislative Assembly yet again in an exclusive Nagaland style democracy…and the reason being crafted for the murder of democracy is to ‘show solidarity’ of our elected Members of Legislative Assembly to achieve an early Indo-Naga political solution. This useless show of comical solidarity could have very well been achieved with the opposition bench remaining in opposition but agreeing to full heartedly participate in the Core Committee without strangling the democratic structure of governance.
At this juncture, the whole population has been wondering what this Core Committee is really attempting to achieve in this uncompromising landscape… and one can’t help wondering whether the members of this Committee themselves have a clear vision as to what their real agenda is…other than of course the clarity of joining the ruling government to claim their share of the remaining booty before the election. To cut the long story short, if the Core Committee, as a facilitator, really want to be useful they should perhaps spend quality time with Muivah and seriously try and ascertain what status he envisions for himself after the settlement. Without doubt, his initial prompt response would be that he would rather ‘die in harness’ than to submit to our adversary. It will be a challenging task to say the least but it is an educated guess that finding an honest answer to this question will ease the deadlock. If the Core committee cannot perceive this reality and explore the unchartered possibilities then it is a waste of time making efforts to try and bring the Factions together under the same roof. It won’t work and it will not happen…EVER. The opposition-less government for show solidarity will remain a very poor unconvincing excuse and the formation of a Core Committee just another political gimmick.
At the end of the day, we, the voting population, condemn ourselves to suffer the consequences of all the ruthless corruption being perpetuated by our ‘standup comedians’ in the Assembly…as long as we continue to sell our votes to the highest bidder. Period!!!
