Nukhosa Chuzho
Kohima
Barely three weeks lapsed since seven political parties entered into an 18-point understanding signed into a formal agreement with the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) on June 22, a fissure had cropped up encroaching the sacred agreement well ahead of election process scheduled in early part of 2018. Point no 14 of the said agreement between the parties of interest conditioned that no false propaganda should be employed for personal gain. The preferred use of words by our esteem leaders should, at best, be left to the thinkers to weigh the degree it had impinged the above point.
Oft repeated “people’s needs” and “national principle”, therefore, emerged as two perfect phrasal-riders ripping apart our floating civilisation. Many Nagas coveted for building a stable economy and a simultaneous tapping of underutilised human resource. This resulted in switching over of allegiance to mainstream politics by subscribing to a view that playing ‘underground’ politics to give birth to an independent nation state was costing us of economic and human capitals. The transition was a rough patch. Mistrust had unleashed the disruptive games of ideology amongst the rivals of the projected divergent (non-state actors) and the directed allegiant (state actors).
Until recently, political defection was relatively confined to groups belonging to non-state actors in an apparent move to shield oneself from being hunted down by the rival group(s). Then, killing took place in the open streets, in kitchens, in undisclosed locations unleashing wraths of vengeance by chasing the targeted rival members. Families were rendered ‘factional refugees’ in our own land where they sought refuge at their next doors’ house, sons and daughters were rendered fatherless while many housewives were made as uncared widows. And the scars remain.
Far from being recovered, yet our society is being plagued by a new wave of political game to cling on power. Set off in 2006, the game persists till 2014 which prolongs to 2017 with no sign of relenting still. In between, loss incurs attributable to poor governance as a result of political instability may round up to few crores (of monetary value). The estimated sum, when accounts and channels to normal developmental streams, is huge enough to repair a road, to renovate a drainage, to hire a youth for a specific job, to sponsor a student for higher studies, or to promote a public park where public can relax (for we the common men may never have an opportunity to catch a glance of Kaziranga). In all sense of human judgment, it is not the retiring but the inheriting generation that will take care of our future, including the ones who wickedly adulterate the foundation upon which the inheriting generation is volatilely grounded. Bequeath to us with a diagonally fragmented society - appearing beyond repair - along with a corrupted version of political practice on both fronts of state and national (NPGs) politics, the fast approaching future seems so bleak to inherit leaving much a space for socio-political backlash.
In a situation where a mother first satiate herself in drinks and funs withholding the essential nursing / tendering that her child is desperately in need, we cannot be expected to develop into a fully matured kind by a simple fact that we would either be undernourished to perform a specific task or too adapted to the vile of the present to think out of the box. We struggle but we have to exercise restraint for lack of political will in competing with the rest of the world in a given infrastructure and learning environment which, thus far, is ostensibly limited.
Four years running after celebrating its 50 years of existence, our state has prematurely developed syndromes of physical agility though, the trend is advancing in reverse in the application of its mind and spirit. What was once regarded a moral turpitude had evolved over time to portray itself as a new political standard enticing those hunting for lucrative locus, fame and personalised benefits. A concordance on party re-unification that collapsed in a span of 4 months speaks more about the loose moral principles than the highly politically correct rhetoric that crushed along with them.
Many may prefer to view the latest political development as news. They may keep on expecting reports on shift of loyalty of political members from one camp to another, counting their numbers necessary to form the next regime. However, the young alike takes the imbroglio as not news but a historical conundrum on the part of the political members committing against the posterity. It is a farce, it plays cheap, it lacks responsibility & accountability, it bypasses all moral standards and it brings ignominy to each and every Naga sans partisan politics. People may forgive and forget; but history will linger on.
We can no longer afford to waste time at the turn of every rift of cynicism by staking claim over the ‘majority’ monologue. Playing power-politics for accumulated loss of a couple of weeks may handsomely pay political dividend which is not so in matters of public importance thriving at the edge of means and ends. Thousands of youth suffers from emotional withdrawals in the absence of proper employment measures. Old-aged community is fast disappearing for lack of healthcare and basic amenities. Highways supplying essential commodities to the public are snapped. Flow of traffic in the state is stressed. Fuel, primary food items, contingent works appears to be its first victims. Outdated machineries / infrastructures cause loss of lives. Heavy precipitation results in landslides - damaging residences, crops and threatening the survival of the small and marginal populace. Nature, at the moment, seems cease to care.
It is believed that an inner spirit propels a person to be a leader; hoping to bring about change by seeing the things around. It is also an established fact that a spirit in us that sustains our movement for self-determination. But as the Gospel of Mark reads “the body is weak”, it perilously overpowers the willing spirit. We are willing like you do, but our political environment is too weak to support us. Is it not time to show the pseudo-nationalists and pseudo-regionalists an exit door? For us, we are sandwiched. National workers promise us freedom, (state) party workers pledge for development; both are poles apart from its sworn principles.
