Will Rio’s homecoming usher in change?
The result to the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly election as projected might have narrowed down to the wire producing a fractured mandate. On expected line, right after the election, the wheels were set on motion and hectic parley started to form the next government. The top contenders – Naga People’s Front and NDPP-BJP Alliance have already staked claims to form the government.
A state politics known for shifting allegiance, a fractured verdict is kingmaker’s delight and favourite hunting ground for political opportunism. While evenly poised, as the things stand, the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance has an upper hand and most likely to form the government.
It will be a homecoming for the former Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, who left the state politics in 2014 by contesting for Nagaland’s lone Lok Sabha seat leaving the chair to the incumbent Chief Minister TR Zeliang.
With Rio’s sojourn to centre not panning out as scripted, he was eying a return to the state politics over the years. Consequently, he was at the centre of most leadership tussles that surrounded the ruling NPF government in the previous 12th NLA tenure.
As the election approached, after a topsy-turvy relationship with his old party NPF, that saw both his expulsion and revocation of his membership from the party, he formally took the mantle of newly floated Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and became its Chief Ministerial candidate.
With the motto, “Facta Non Verba”(deeds not words), the party emerged as a direct challenge to his old party's “Fide, Non Armis” (Faith, not arms) slogan. The duel was not merely verbal. When Rio joined NDPP, many other loyalists, who were either part of NPF as well as previous government shifted their political alignment and joined the Rio’s camp.
In a tactful and ironic manoeuvring of the state of affairs, the NDPP also adopted a ‘stable government’ and ‘decisive leadership’ as the unique selling points for the election.
Notwithstanding the previous misadventure, this time around, his management skills came in handy as he managed a political coup by stitching a pre-poll alliance with BJP. Together they managed to dislodge the ruling NPF with 40.5% vote share and sending 30 members to the state Assembly. The NPF with 38.8% vote share emerged the single largest party with 26 elected representatives.
The NDPP tagline declared that ‘Change is Coming’ promising a paradigmatic shift, among others, in governance and progressive development through visionary policies.
While such rhetorics need to be taken with a pinch of salt given that fact that many elected representatives to 13th NLA from NDPP-BJP Alliance were part of the previous government, it remains to be seen and keenly observed, whether Rio’s homecoming would usher in the desired change or will be merely a ‘Verba, non facta.’
