Thepfulhouvi Solo (IFS Retd)
Retd Principal Secretary: Nagaland
I was surprised to find Botswana of Africa among the top best-governed Countries of the world like Denmark, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and Singapore according to a BBC Report my son emailed to me. Canada ranked higher than America because of less violence and New Zealand a little higher than Australia because of political stability.
Will Nagaland be a new well-Governed State? This question needs deep thinking in the governed as well as in the governor.
The new Coalition Government of Nagaland was recently caesarian delivered.
The BJP, though not the biggest partner of the coalition group demanded LION SHARE of the Cabinet and Ministerial Posts, that too, of choice Departments including rarely practiced post of Deputy Chief Minister. In addition, they wanted the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha Seats.
Nagaland felt a little embarrassed at the lack of democratic decency in the BJP.
The Lion is a social Animal that goes by family-groups with a family of more or less number of reproductive female Lions and young ones from the bloodline of the dominant Lion. The dominant Lion does not tolerate any other males to share his harem of lionesses in the family.
The odd thing in the behavior of the dominant Lion is that it does not normally do the hunting; the female Lions do most of the hunting. Nevertheless, whenever the female lions kill an animal, the dominant lion would come and eat first. It is only after he had eaten his full that he retires to the shed of a tree to rest and only then the other Lions and the Cubs feed on the kill.
In the post-election post sharing in the Government, the BJP behaved like the king of the Beasts.
In Naga tradition of sharing a kill, whoever participated in the group hunt gets a traditional piece of the Meat; even the hunting dogs get their traditional share a piece of the meat.
The Naga culture of sharing a common commodity of the society is different from that the dominant Caste in having higher privileges in the Community in India.
It was very significantly proper that a member of the NDPP Pohwang Konyak in the internal Meeting of the Party has forthrightly stated the feeling in Naga Culture the BJP is demanding too much.
Barbaric and primitive they may be, the Naga traditional core-principle Polity shares common Property in Equality among the Members.
There is a saying among the Naga that teaches a person that whenever a person divides something common among the members, he/she sees to it that his or her own share should appear less than that of the others to be actually equal for all.
It is a shame, uncalled-for and even an anathema for a person to demand more privileges or shares over others of a common property. It is dishonorable for a person to do such.
All Tribes of Nagaland big or small, are equal in social polity and should equally share in the governance of their State.
It is perfectly proper for a non-Naga Sportsperson-citizen of Nagaland to represent the State in sport; in fact, we are happy there are instances when a Non-Naga won laurels for Nagaland State in Sports and other non-political activities.
However, on matters of political representation, it is improper even for a Naga of one Tribe to represent another Tribe or Village. It was an inconsiderate show of favor for the Konyaks of Tobu area sometime ago offering their Seat in the Assembly to an Angami. Many Angamis were acutely apprehensive at the move and were expecting their concerned member would decline while thanking the offer
Such offer or practice in Nagaland’s parlance is like plucking unripe fruits for consumption. The governance of Nagaland does not belong to one Party alone; it belongs to the whole of Nagaland. At least one person from each tribe should be present in the governance of the State.
This is not French Democracy or the democracy of the Authors of the Magna Carta. This is the principle of Polity unique to Naga, which the creators of the Magna Carta have described in the early 19th Century as “the Purest Form of Democracy”.
Nagaland, as one of the oldest States in the Northeast, with beautiful geography and sylvan environment, salubrious climate, affable if gullible Christian population with easy humor, a casteless society highly emphasizing equality, encouraging literacy percentage and a special constitutional provision for its governance not available to other States of India, the State should have been one of the nicest place in the country, except for its ill-governance.
Small provincial States like Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Sikkim in Alliance with very big, powerful, rich neighboring Nations not very democratic in nature like China, Burma or India find it rarely easy to manage themselves and avoid interference in governance in the State. T
he Chief Minister appears to have acquired a heavy millstone of Political Alliance on his neck now finds it both difficult to carry and too early to ditch! For small States like Nagaland, it is more politically sagacious to remain in safe distance of big powerful State than in uncomfortable Alliance with it.
Can Nagaland make a first Step in its long journey of a thousand Li to good-governance like the one Botswana of Africa did with their indigenous materials?
