It is now quite common to experience the practice of promises contradicting performance; and words being nothing more than rhetoric, especially in relation to governments and political parties in the Naga electoral politics. Ironically it is through the promises they make that political parties seek to win the confidence of people; and inevitably, it is the very same promises and assurances that gets broken time and time again by the many parties that have assumed political power. The degrees to which political parties deviate from their promises betray a lack of will and commitment to truly serve the needs and aspirations of the people they claim to represent.
What does the habit of promises contradicting performance truly represent and what are its implications to human society? Does it mean that once in power, politicians take the people for granted? Or, are the people so naïve and powerless that every time their politicians betray the promises made, they so ignorantly become indifferent to the abuse of trust and the arrogance of power. Or is the politics of promises as well as the politics of forgetting inherent within the electoral system? What perhaps is more important is that the lives of ordinary people are most affected by it. And therefore it certainly raises fundamental questions of public trust, democratic governance and accountability to the people.
The politics of forgetting, or more specifically selective amnesia is a common trait amongst governments. It is ironic that the politics of promises as well as the politics of forgetting are so comfortably intertwined in the electoral system in the Naga context. This implies the presence of a weak civil society that is unable to stand firmly on issues and demand greater accountability and good governance from successive governments. And at the core it reveals a society that is so desperately dependent on the government for its survival; and therefore made complacent by conditions of necessity that forces it to turn a blind eye to corruption and abuse of power.
Nagas must critically question whether the present situation has resulted because of the public’s indifferent attitude or because politicians have become too powerful to care for the public anymore? The appalling conditions of the present indicate that it is time for such politics to become a matter of the past. The Naga public can no longer remain a mute spectator. It needs to break out of its complacency and recognize that true power lies with the people. It must therefore demand results, not just words from their MLAs and ensure that their representatives are held accountable to the ideals of democratic governance.
