Public attending an election rally in Tuensang. (Morung Photo)
Dr Samuel Wati
4th Mile Diphupar
My father served in the Indian Army, and my uncle (Dad’s sole brother) served in the Naga Army in the 1960s. While still a boy, a well-intentioned relative of mine once confided in me that my Grandfather endorsed such contradiction in the family for the envy of Indian Army dress and tax waiver from the Naga Army. Baffled, yet unfortunate not to have Grandpa around to confirm the truth. A similar dilemma lingers as I prepare for 27 Feb. 2023 Polling Day. Here are Questions that bother me as a citizen and a Christian trying to make sense and act (vote) right.
1. Why seat-sharing and opposition-less?
My 11 years of marriage tells me that it sometimes takes bitter disagreement and confrontation to forge a better way forward. And to think about running a system devoid of an opposition citing a strawman - mother- of –all-agenda is disturbing, to say the least, and dangerous at best. Could there be other reasons besides the professed agenda that has triggered to forfeit the foundation of democracy - a healthy opposition to mend checks and balances? Should this seat- sharing and opposition-less be just a game of convenience to remain in power and preempt the likelihood of genuine opposition, then the Truth is not in the system. Promises are broken.
2. Who benefits by sharing seats and not being opposed?
Naga culture elevates men in general and chronologically older men in particular. Leadership in the System, Organizations, Institutions, and Church reflect such truths. An inevitable time-consuming process is required to acquire a high position. However, giving an unprecedented chronological vested advantage over qualification, talents, and the Truth is a pretense. Then again, who is the actual real winner in this seat-sharing? Bigger numbers are not winner everywhere.
3. What could be the ideology behind seat-sharing and opposition-less?
My father-in-law, who faithfully served the Naga cause in the 1950s, recounted that they got lost on many occasions while traversing the dense forest. Amidst fear, anxiety, anger and frustration, a piece of advice to follow the 'indistinct' sound in the bush almost every time miraculously led the group to safety. Has the present system, people working for the exact cause, given up on those miraculous escapades and the ideals behind the cause? Dangerous yet driven by an emboldened ideology of simplicity and Truth. Are we trading an identity and a long-cherished ideology for development and make-believe peace? Does the system have a creed? Or even try to have one? Development in and of itself is no ideology. Truth is misplaced.
4. Whose generation is asking for seat-sharing and no opposition?
The generation of contestants for the forthcoming election falls beyond Baby Boomers (1940s-1950s) to the Millennials (1981-1996) and three more generations. Each generation marks substantial, sometimes exclusive, differences. Then again, one wonders where the initiative is coming from, for such a compromise. Compromise because there are pronounced differences across generations globally regarding ideologies, preferences, livelihood choices, and quality of life. So again, where is the voice of the people represented? Or should we say that people of Nagaland across generations has no differences of opinion? Or sold-out?
5. Do seat- sharing and Opposition-less breed leadership and a conducive environment for growth, creativity, and progress?
Naga customs and traditions, by and large, does not encourage healthy debates between chronologically different age groups, leave alone other tribes, religion, and ideologies etc. Therefore, is the opposition- less and seat- sharing just a convenient way to maintain status quo? It is imperative to underscore that the younger generation representatives are rather voice-less, bound by family, clan, village, tribe, church, and political party- politics! Is the more youthful generation, sitting in the chair and contesting, lured to shun speaking for themselves or even enticed to talk about something they do not believe? Are the younger generation representatives even allowed to represent the people correctly?
6. Is seat- sharing and opposition- less, making themselves more opaque or transparent to the public?
With the make-believe social media doing its rounds, the public thinks they know something about the system. This assumption can be far from the truth. With the increasing gap between the rich and the poor (billionaires in the Naga society, mounting unemployment and unemployabilty), information that the general public is exposed to is either too little or too late. Blunder and decision errors are conveniently covered up. E.g. What are the condition of schools and higher education in Nagaland today? The only State in India where one Medical College cannot be put together to run? The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), an autonomous premier public-funded research institute given to Nagaland, could not materialize! This establishment had one potential of nurturing many science students in their Master's and Research level courses, which in return would have revolutionized the Science terrain in the State. In the stark absence of a civic space and underdog, one can only imagine how the system is being run under multi-millionaire businesspersons at best. Irrespective of political parties, the exclusivity of the elite and the shared-opposition-less among this elite is what will make the system more opaque, not transparent. Portrayals of supposed consultations with Civil Society Organizations (CSO) are but a face wash and networking among elite CSO leaders at best.
7. Is seat- sharing and opposition-less incorruptible or more corrupt?
Of late, it's been said that the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) brought opposition parties together, which no voters could do in India. With the legislative, executive, and judiciary being managed on the one hand and impunity on the other, the latter is the norm of the day, with the balancing act being done at the expense of the public. Does one wonder how a 1.5 km stretch to the largest hospital in the State and in Dimapur is left in such a deteriorated condition? Who pays the price of heart attack, stroke, miscarriages, and critically ill patients whose life hinge on every precious second? What about the resources and time wasted by all citizens because of the debilitated road connectivity? Nagaland is yet to hear about compensation for accidents due to bad road conditions and negligence. Forgetting other road connectivity, the Road Traffic Accidents (RTA) between Dimapur and Kohima due to systemic negligence of the system is worth pondering. Discussions on systemic failure to effectively implement schemes and projects are long forgotten. Is this silence the product of a shared-opposition-less venture among the elite class in the Naga society?
8. What are ordinary citizens' opportunity costs for the shared, opposition-less system?
The utmost commodity Nagas trade with this supposed development is the irreconcilable identity and ideology. They are imperceptible because they use the same language (at least trying), wear the same fashion, and are supposedly eqi-distant. However, the ugly truth is the reality of the indistinguishable, yet irreconcilable gap between the ‘Haves’ and the ‘Have nots'. On a closer look at the situation in the county and at home, one sees the contrast and the double-tongued narrative of persecution and totalitarian regime on the one hand and the narrative of peace and development on the other. Point is, what cost are we paying (individually and corporately) for the current balancing act of the system for a developed land?
9. What are the priorities of the seat-shared and opposition-less system?
Given the geopolitics of North East India, Act East is perhaps necessary for ‘the road map’ to reach the far East beyond Nagaland. Nagaland stands in the way. Peeking into the overloaded manifesto on development, one must ask, at what cost do we trade development? What are greater agendas being fulfilled? Is the greater religious mission being compromised? What if a coup of a different kind is being played out fundamentally in a spiritual realm that Nagas do not want to acknowledge? There is impending danger in manipulating the truth and mixing religion with politics. To me, the objective is not development but rather development at all costs.
10. Do I vote for a shared-opposition-less system to be established?
I want to cast my vote not based on tribe, age, experience, denomination, charisma, or the eloquence of the individual contestant but evaluate the ideology of the Party they represent and the conviction of the person therein. This is not to ignore the person’s integrity and the means employed towards meeting the ends. Perhaps it is also time for us to think collectively as a people responsible for establishing the right system. We dare not isolate ourselves as people of this party and that party, people of this and that tribe, people of this and that gender, people of this and that denomination, people in politics or people in the civil society, or people in the church or people in the bureaucracy or people in the academic…Can we envision ourselves as a family and extended family based on the Truth? Therefore, we are! Karl Barth once said, “Take your Bible, take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.” Can we interpret the times and seize the opportunity of being at this time and place to be part of (re)establishing the Truth within us and the society we live in? Being judged by history is one thing; to be judged by God (Truth) is quite another. To be opposed by men is one; to be opposed by God is tragic. Let us do our part and vote. Let us appreciate our choices (NOTA included), and let the right system be established. I believe, amidst the supposed contradictions, Truth still exists. 27th February 2023- Polling day is a proof that Truth has not forsaken His people. Truth awaits! Stay vigilant; be on the side of the Truth.
