Al Ngullie
The reality of rural politics in Nagaland today is a poor imitation of the urban bourgeoisie’s phony liberalist movement – the poor man is fed a utopia designed and cooked by political opportunism. Not welfare.
Whether or not toilets and granaries are actually capable of casting votes remains yet an abstract notion. But a recent phenomenon is certain – bathrooms and sack-draped granaries are also voters, if the forthcoming state assembly election is anything to go by. And the devious NPF, the opportunist Congress and the toady BJP are evidently the three parties making the most from this “households” business. Minnows like the RJD, JD (U) and NCP etc., meanwhile, are somehow making do with whatever scraps are falling off the king’s table.
Citizen-observers are most aware of a new trend in Nagaland, in the recent times that has found birth thanks to opportunist expediency and the art of political propaganda. There is this new, disturbing route where entire communities or simply “households” (as claimed) ‘join’ a political party or the next. We are aware of the pompous claims various political parties in rural areas are making about so-and-so number of “households” or “villages” joining in “total support” of a candidate or a political unit. This gauche and almost plastic trend has caught on as an indispensable aspect of rural politics, notably in the so-called "eastern" areas. Alternate days witness rural units dispatching jubilant ‘press releases’ proudly declaring the new entrants, regularly oddly clubbed as “households” or “villages.” You never know these collective terms also include bathrooms and graneries. These self-serving, vested-interested collective nouns and plurals have begun stinking to high heavens.
The fact is that, the political entities in concern are exploiting local welfare sentiments of the impoverished people to gain political mileage. And nothing more. Where were these parties when the poor lots were starving?
Self-serving political parties are already on to perfecting the disreputable art modern bourgeoisie has come to know as electoral subterfuge. To top it off, these political charades – all lies and wiles – are with the active participation of even traditional institutions like village councils, GBs, DBs etc. It has yet to be a respected Gospel that Gaonburas (GBs), Doubashis (DBs) and likened local governing bodies that enjoy government benefaction and under legal governance, are not supposed to pursue electoral ambitions of any nature. Not that the importance of money in politics – or the lack of it – is dispensable but the way the mostly underprivileged rural lot is being exploited by politicians is shameful, to say the least. And collective mandates that are at best vague, sure reeks of the eternal quest for money.
I am reminded of a flurry of “households” from many a village in Mon and Tuensang ‘joining’ certain political parties (or that was what the political sources in concern claimed in their press notes). Alongside this ‘media events,’ it also comes to mind 11 clans from Tesophenyu village warning parties or groups to abstain from ‘forcing’ villagers to vote for or against, their chosen candidates.
In a Nagaland of today where certain vested sections of the rural bourgeoisie have embarked on employing dangerous sectarian politics, we need more thinking-communities like the 11 clans of Tesophenyu Group: In a statement issued recently to the media the clans amply made clear that democratic will and individual right is in essence not an option. Members of the eleven clans resolved to exercise own free-will vote franchise. The Tesophenyu Group of 11 Clans had met on October 20 in Tesophenyu village, resulting in the aforesaid declaration. The resolution stated that all eligible voters of Tesophenyu Group of 11 clans under Tesophenyu group i.e., Jemutsa, Makhaza, Chungshenyu, Wochanza, Tepenyu, Sebenyu, Tsela/Sonpvünyu, Mesungnyu, Kempvunyu, Kezonza and Semy shall exercise their franchise on his/her own will to elect his/her leader in the forthcoming State Election.
How many communities of our so-called ‘accommodative’ Nagas are bold or wise enough to remain convinced in this egalitarian affirmation? And most honorably, make a stand on it? My admiration and appreciation goes out to Tesophenyu Group of 11 clans. Another point I would like us to reflect on, is this: The press statement also recorded some “frustrated vested interest groups, parties with ill-motives” attempting to disrupt the meeting. It comes with no surprise that the noble endeavor of the 11 clans was met with opposition. With so much at stake – with power topping the heap – resistance from self-serving sections to the meeting only reflected a painful truth: the truth that rural politics have mutated from welfare-centric endeavors into a pursuit for control over welfare. This is the irony of modern day rural politics in Nagaland – pursuing utopia with empty bellies. The uncommon but honest reaffirmation of democratic will and the individual’s right by the said clans, is a naked contrast to the so-claimed “households” making open, unabashed declarations of political allegiance.
This also brings to mind an interesting thought: Apart from satisfying expansionist whims and the vote-hungry politician, what depth of welfare interest does a ‘household’ hold? Also, what safeguards are there against this “household” or “villages” trend that it will not give birth to another uglier trend – the trend of distribution of welfare benefits only to those who supported a candidate? And the rest, neglected.
These are the consequences after the elections that will deeply impact the “households,” “entire villages” or collective organizations who express support for a candidate or the other. These consequences are observed in the context of natural law:
• Villages of a constituency that supported a candidate other then the one who came to power will be largely ignored from receiving even the stipulated developmental benefit.
• Members of the village/clans/organizations of the one that came to power will ride up the social ladder while the ones who did not support the in-power-that-be would face decline for the next five years. This is a natural law governing societal existence. We are witnessing this trend even in the DAN government and municipal power-holders. Members from a minister/power-holder’s community, for instance, are a higher preference, thereby increasing their social standing.
• Aren’t we already aware of the despicable, spiteful, malevolent, self-serving and divisive evil called sectarianism (or even tribalism)? Do we not know that our sectarian minds have already impacted even welfare-policies of the government? In simply words, only the village/tribe/clan that has a legislator gets to enjoy the most benefits.
• Intra-organizational antagonism will rise in the areas where fractured mandate decided the outcome of the election. Power-sharing will not be. Rather, struggle for power will have far-reaching communal consequences on the area in concern.
• Owing to convergence of these rural consequences and seeping into urban systems to influence policy-making, the existing tribal nature in the Nagas’ politics will undergo a radical (and dangerous) change where power-sharing in the state government itself will be based, I repeat, based not on territorial mandate but on tribal mandate.
(Regular readers will recall a calculation and observation I made in an article early last year about tribal antagonism and Intangki National Park {it was much, much before the Intangki issue turned into what we see today. That article was written around the time the Zeliangrong students’ first asserted claim over a portion of the Intangki area. It was also before the ownership dispute over the national park arose as we see today} In that article it was highlighted that within the next three years, land dispute and related issues would mutate into far-reaching, divisive struggle between tribes over land. I also mentioned in the same article my observation that land disputes would lead to violence and bloodshed, directly or indirectly, but nevertheless, originated from tribal antagonism. I shall be continuing on this perspective in later convenient editions.)
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