Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Mulayam Singh Yadav recently joined the long list of political leaders in predicting the possibility of mid-term Lok Sabha elections. Ever since the result of the Uttar Pradesh State Assembly election was announced along with the other smaller States, the talk of mid-term elections has got shriller. Although the term of the present Lok Sabha is till 2014, political parties are already preparing for General election within the next year. It is not without reason that political parties have been expressing the possibilities of mid-term Lok Sabha polls. The deteriorating relations of Congress with allies like Trinamool Congress; the number of scams hitting the UPA II one after another; a big win for the SP in the politically crucial state of UP; talk of a Third Front consisting mostly of regional parties not aligned either to the Congress or BJP and lastly the general mood across the country which appears to be on an anti-Congress wave. Some of the political parties wanting early election want to cash in on the popular mood, which seems to be favouring a fresh political alternative to the Congress led UPA government.
Some may wonder why having a mid-term election or not has anything to do with the Naga people. In fact elections come and go; political parties come to power and then they fall and so there is nothing that can stop the dynamics of politics and power. And that is precisely why the Naga people need to take note of the political climate and prepare accordingly. By now, all of us should be aware of the Indo-Naga peace process and how after almost fifteen years of ceasefire and dialogue, the stage has reached for the Nagas to sit up and take an appropriate decision on what it wants to do. In the last couple of months there has been clear indication from the respective entities—the Government of India and the NSCN—that the time for a settlement is near. As recently as on March 21, 2012, during the Naga Republic Day, the Chairman of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim publicly stated that a “solution to the protracted Naga problem is not far off.”
In a related Morung Express editorial on February 2012 under the heading ‘Time for Settlement’, we had then commented that the year 2012 could possibly see the long drawn Indo-Naga issue come to some form of settlement. Off course we had given our justification why the need arises to start putting a time frame on the Naga talks. To refresh our readers we had mentioned about the next Nagaland Assembly election slated for early 2013 and argued that the hustle and bustle of electoral politics can lead to more problems and conflict when we should be looking to resolve the decade’s long Naga imbroglio. Then the other worry was the present term of the Congress led UPA government coming to an end in 2014 and with another big General Election coming the Naga peace process will have to be put in the backburner—to be taken up once a new government comes to power. And so we had suggested the need to find a solution within the timeframe of the present UPA government, which was also promised by the Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh. But now even that timeframe is looking uncertain following the sudden change in the political situation in Delhi. Talk of a mid-term election is therefore not good news for prospects of an early solution. As noted by the recent statement of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the DAN government, a sense of urgency is required on our part.
