Moa Jamir
Naga ‘menfolk’s’ passion for politics and power is indefatigable. The hitherto perceived supremacy over ‘womenfolk’ and hierarchal societal order and polity, therefore, is akin to the ‘divine right’ – an enduring legacy of time ‘immemorial’ as political legitimacy. Any challenges to the status quo are met with doughty resistance.
This in essence explains the fervour with which two male-centric Naga organisations served a ‘15 days ultimatum’ to the State Government on December 10, adding yet another saga to the protracted Women’s Reservation Bill in Nagaland.
With singular display of unanimity, the two organisations, in a confrontational mode, asked that State Government to convene a special session and restore the Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA)’s September 22, 2012 Resolution - revoked at the 14th session of the 12th NLA on November 24, 2016.
The resolution had exempted Nagaland from the application of Article 243(T), Part IX A of the Constitution, dealing with reservation of seats in municipalities citing infringement upon certain special provisions guaranteed under Article 371(A) of Indian Constitution. The JACWR (Joint Action Committee of Women Reservation) had taken a legal recourse over the issue.
Action will be initiated against the State Government if it fails to meet the demand, it cautioned further restraining the issuance of Election Notification.
It also directed the government to tell the ‘womenfolk’ to withdraw the PIL filed in the Supreme Court of India. Almost all the leading tribal organisations in Nagaland have opposed the same Women’s Reservation Bill.
Lavishing effusive praises on the idea of ‘egalitarian’ Naga society, it hedonistically asserted that the 33% women reservation policy of India in their fight against the “cursed caste system” cannot be equated with “the social practice of the Nagas.”
“No single Naga father denies his daughter to go to school. Likewise, each and every Naga man longs to see his daughter becoming a successful lady,” it argued. A wounded male ego is one of the most dangerous forces in politics with extensive repercussions, it is often opined. The journey of Women’s Reservation Bill is a classic illustration.
While extending and giving full support for women equality considering it as an inherent social endowment, they tried to undermine argument for reservation by trivialising the issue as “few women claiming to be representing the whole of Naga women.” Such atrociousness is the height of male chauvinism.
Consequently, diatribes directed at ‘womenfolk’ they claim to nurture with utmost ‘equality’ were fired by implying that they are breaking their “ancestral Naga social fabric” and imperilling Naga’s identity by demanding reservation. Such absurd arguments are irony personified and a tragic comedy, buried and blinded by their blunt opposition to the issue.
Many argue that women should win by merit, not reservation invoking the principle of democracy where everyone is given an opportunity to contest in a ‘free and fair’ election. Often they harp on abstract notion of proverbial 'reverence' and 'equal' status enjoyed by Naga women to oppose any policy oriented reservation in Nagaland.
But if such a 'fair and lovely' system so far has failed to generate any productive participation of women in politics, then there is a colossal disconnect between the abstract assertion and practical reality. Something is fundamentally amiss with the system. Reservation is not the panacea for all political maladies but keeping the status quo will take us back to time ‘immemorial.’
Elsewhere, another scam has been unearthed in Nagaland. Rest assured, it will be conspicuously greeted with a ‘deafening silence’ from leading organisations and general public, whose priorities are misplaced elsewhere.
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