Imkong Walling
Nagaland, by and large, has been and continues to be characterised by paradoxes. Paradoxes that range from the downright absurd to the wretchedly complex— from swanky cars not relative to the road conditions to a people trying desperately to hold on to a supposedly glorious past, while wanting the goods that challenges tradition.
From grand populist rhetoric that do not see fruition to a records system that is largely paper based as opposed to the oft repeated e-governance mantra. From IT applications and web portals struggling to fit into a system, going digital has become more an apparition than reality.
The list of contradictions goes on. Rundown public infrastructure to extravagant residences not relative to ‘official’ income and churches and gates that get built on record time, to public infrastructure projects that take ages to complete.
On one hand, women are held in high regard but deemed not prudent enough to partake in decision-making. There is a ban on alcohol, but it flows, from the top echelons of power to the grassroots. The people love their drink but the moral-keepers apparently do not, enforcing their will over the others freewill. There is a government, one which, in its earlier avatar, championed ‘emotional integration’ but is today mute even as a Free Movement Regime is under threat.
The paradoxes are many but for the moment, elections to the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) and the emerging issue of free movement of the indigenous communities, segregated by an irrational inter-national boundary, stick out.
The ULB polls with 33 percent of seats reserved for women looks shaky despite the government projecting a confident front. The government has claimed the support of the tribal hohos (organisations) but some of the major hohos have rubbished the claim. In November 2023, the Deputy Chief Minister TR Zeliang had predicted that the ULB polls in the state would be preceded by delimitation of the wards (seats) following the conclusion of the Lok Sabha polls. But the LS polls are barely 2-3 months away and the state government has yet made a concrete ULB step.
The Free Movement Regime issue would perhaps be the biggest to have hit the state in 2024 but the rather happy-go-lucky demeanour is not helping the cause of the villagers, to be the hardest hit if it is replaced with a stricter regime.
Some noise was heard on the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act in 2023 only to fade away. Sitting legislators publicly called for repealing or, atleast, reviewing the Act, unfortunately, they have yet to take their comments into the floor of the Assembly. On the realm of the internet, the chatter has remained on social media. Are the people and the government up for keeping the debate alive in 2024?
The writer is a Principal Correspondent at The Morung Express. Comments can be sent to imkongwalls@gmail.com
