The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) Platinum Jubilee celebrations which was held at new capital complex Kohima from 19th to 21st April 2012 adopted several important resolutions that goes to the heart of some of the most vital issues confronting the Naga people and the State of Nagaland. The NBCC needs to be congratulated for bringing to the fore the concerns and challenges we are faced with in the present and how best we can move forward through resolution of some of the problems identified is very important. In fact the NBCC has correctly identitied the priority areas—“One Nation Building and Peace” and another resolution on “Governance and Elections”. As rightly mentioned by the NBCC the ongoing concern relates to the “unresolved protracted Naga Political issue and the sporadic eruption of armed conflicts among the Factions, unchecked taxations, undisciplined behaviour of some cadres, and other human rights violations”. The concern Naga groups should listen to the call coming out from the NBCC Platinum Jubilee asking all factions to “cease immediately from all forms of killings, intimidation, and forcible collections”. As the NBCC has most appropriately mentioned, this will “create space for nation building based on Biblical principles and work towards a shared future, to be accountable to God and the people”. And isnt this the need of the hour—for Naga people to rebuild our nation and society as we proudly proclaim ‘Nagaland for Christ’.
And any effort at rebuilding will require that we focus on governance and elections, which has been highlighted as one of the resolution. That the NBCC has mentioned the two only reaffirms the fact about corruption and malpractice prevalent both within the government system and our larger society. And this not only destroying the moral fibre of our society but it is leading us into a dangerous path of socio-economic crisis. The political establishment may disprove the claim of critics that the class divide has become accentuated. However the Church seems to have acknowledged “of the social, economic and political disparity that exists among the people”. Definitely governance will have to see a vast improvement. In line with this concern over the present disparity, the NBCC resolution has also made an “appeal to the policy makers and those in government to intensify and intentionally make efforts to promote good governance where transparency and accountability is integral and to guarantee social justice and equal economic opportunities to all its citizens”. Hopefully, the moral force of the Church will press the people in government and politics to stand up, and not just listen, but take reform measures to improve our governance. This will require more than political will. It will need a moral conscience and will be a test of our Christian commitment.
As far as the concern over election goes, the NBCC has done well to identify this because all of us should know by now that one of the root cause of rampant corruption happens to be the big cost involved in election. And for a small state like ours with very little to spare, it is quite shocking that people invest and spend crores of rupees for electioneering purpose. Simply put, to win elections one will need money and muscle power. And therefore it is only right that the Platinum Jubilee resolution has prioritized this concern in clear unambigious language by calling upon “all citizens, communities, the churches, political parties and their candidates to ensure free and fair elections befitting a democratic society and that the elections are not vitiated by use of money and material inducements, impersonations, booth capturing and community decisions that go against individual freedom of choice”. Here, besides money power it will be interesting to see how the Naga churches will deal with ‘vote bank’ politics where decisions taken by the community/village is virtually dictated and imposed upon as the ‘mandate of the people’. Having gone through the resolutions, we will indeed need a tranformation in our action. The NBCC will also have to make good the resolutions by following through on the areas of concern raised. As a first step, the seven point resolution adopted during the NBCC Platinum Jubilee must be widely dessiminated and perhaps a translated copy in respetive tribal dialect should also be prepared for greater awareness and education.
