Media Cell Liberal Democratic Party of Nagaland
In the Naga society we have been led to believe that politics is evil, corrupted and an anti-social institution because ultimately it all leads to money and its deception on poor innocent civilians. The attitude of the people towards politics in Nagaland cannot be blamed because since the inception of our state government in 1963 we have come all the way to 2017 but still nothing good has ever come about in our society by means of righteous politics. But the notion of politics is only tarnished because we made the decisions of electing uneducated (not just in academic terms but also in terms of values in life) ignorant leaders to run our governments.
In the civilized western societies since ancient times many scholars have defined the goals and scope of politics in refined forms which has lead to the evolution of ancient Greek and Roman politics into modern day’s democracy. But since it is in the nature of the Nagas to keep their perspective about life concealed to the boundary of Nagaland, let us examine the nature of politics from our context.
The goal of politics is getting to the bottom of the truth just like ‘art’ and presenting the civilians with a rational system to perceive our lives at. A system with its rational rules and regulations along with freedom for the individuals to co-exist in harmony, a rational system that could pardon or minimize the punishment of a burglar who only broke into the store to feed his weak hungry child, a system that could put a priest behind bars because he commits immoral behavior inside his domain. Ignorant may brand an ‘elephant thief’ and a ‘needle thief’ with the same amount of despise but on rational grounds the gravity of the crime matters and differs according to the motive and situation. The elements in our system should be smart and rational enough to distinguish the case identity of every circumstance.
In such manner we Nagas have accepted that since there is corruption in our government, the nature of politics is the one to be blamed and accounted for when in fact it is not politics that is corrupted, it is the ignorant selfish people who are corrupted. For any intellectual person it is not difficult to assert that there is no rational “politics with purpose” in our government. All there is are just a bunch of ignorant greedy businessmen who has no amount of vision and integrity and shame in there definition of life. And it is us the people to be blamed partially for too, for being weak and easily caving in to their obvious deceptions time and again.
Are we Nagas really that ignorant or just simply lazy to stand up for our own rights. The truth for justice is not locked light years away in another galaxy it is right before us in our limits of perception. We can see, feel, taste, hear and smell the injustice in our system every single day in our life.
We are reminded of the truth everyday when we travel uncomfortably due to poor road conditions, when we wait ages for govt. schemes only to find out it has been digested by the MLAs and the bureaucrats, when we see and smell the reek of disgusting sewage oozing out of the drains in the city streets, when we lose hope in life due to unemployment, these are the truths telling us to stop being ignorant and lazy and to stand up and fight for our rights if we think we deserve them.
Fellow Nagas, don’t expect a benevolent Naga to spend 100 crores in election and take only his 50,000 salary and allocate the public funds for development. This is just naïve and ignorant on our part if we hope for them to. The solution to most of the problems in Nagaland it seems is only rational politics. We should not lose hope on our democratic government and politics instead we should lose hope on the ignorant leaders because a ‘silent society’ would only get what the mental capacity of a leader can offer. Just because our present politics is corrupted it doesn’t mean politics should be damned. A good politics could bring many good things and happiness not just in social platforms but also in our personal lives.
If we accept the reality of our condition and decide to do something about it then together we could glorify Nagaland. It may be difficult at first but in the long run we could accomplish anything with our determination. As long as we wait for a supposedly “predestined protagonist” to come and change Nagaland then every Naga would be waiting until the world finally ends.
“If you want to see a change, be the change.”- Mahatma Gandhi.
