Lessons of life can be learnt standing at common daily market places where lesser people go and at the main traffic junction points in town where one will definitely see how VIPs and the richer folks deal with traffic jam. One cannot but notice a recurring scene of a poor mother desperately trying to make ends meet by haggling with an equally harassed poor vendor for a quarter kilogram of vegetable to try and save a rupee for another difficult day before her. One will also not fail to notice VIP convoy flagrantly breaking all traffic regulation in an already traffic jammed streets being helplessly watched by our own traffic police as VIPs cause further jam. Damned be price escalation that the poor can't cope with! Damned be the rule of law! That in short is the despairing distance that Nagas have travelled these past few decades after Statehood. The gulf between the 'haves' and 'have nots' have noticeably widened...and is growing wider every passing day. Why is this happening in the first place? Take an overview....
As never before, Rev. Dr. Keyho, the General Secretary, NBCC, has displayed a remarkable moral courage to publically admit the failure of NBCC as an organisation that he represents. Given the background of our desperate undisciplined moral degradation, it is comparable to Neil Armstrong stepping on the surface of the Moon on 20th July 1969 and declaring "one small step for man and a giant leap for mankind". This is the first small step of honest realisation that should enable the Nagas to take a giant leap to repaint our deplorable moral canvas. Rather than switch to a counterproductive mode of 'figure pointing' exercise, the important message from his admission must lead all Christians to forthrightly admit with humility that we, as the congregation of that same Church establishment that he is talking about, have failed to uphold the Christian moral values in our routine lives. Instead of blaming NBCC for the downfall of our entire community therefore, we need to pick up the challenge as a collective responsibility not only to support NBCC to get its act together but do everything else we can to make things better for ourselves and for our children. With this common resolve in mind we need to spend quality time to try and understand the nucleus source causing our present predicament. The core issues lie within the subject of 'clean election' which are as complex as it is vicious.
Amongst other destabilising factors, "selling our votes" during election must be rated as the epic centre of downfall of our Naga community. Without a doubt, this one glaring irresponsible act of indiscretion in exercise of our democratic franchise is leading the Nagas towards a dangerous precipice. Take a reality check: The universal rule of transaction is that when a commodity is purchased, the purchaser is empowered to do what he/she pleases with that commodity. Similarly, when a candidate buys our votes (i.e our rights) and wins the election, he gets empowered to do as he pleases with what he has bought. The level of our ignorance begin when we start complaining about wanting good roads, good uninterrupted power supply, good schools, good healthcare services, good governance and good everything after having sold our rights! Our voters must clearly be made to understand that the right to complain or demand anything was sold during the election! Now take a look at the serious impact "vote selling" causes on the other side of the fence: The "Candidates" are political animals selling all their sellable properties/assets, take desperate Naga loans @10% interest rate per month and go further mortgaging even the very houses where their wives and children live... just so as to buy our votes to win their election. The State election is the great-grandfather of all gambling! Now, if you were in the Candidate's shoes...would you not be prepared to adopt desperate legal or illegal measures to recuperate your astronomical election expenses running into Rs. 20-30-40 crores to repay the deadly Naga loans that escalate at 10% interest rate per month and try retrieve all your mortgaged properties? There isn't a human being on earth, including the best of Christians, who would forego the election expenses as a 'social service'. Our so-called 'elected' leaders who actually 'purchase' their leaderships therefore, naturally have no concerned priority for real development. Where is the time for them to first make up their election losses and thereafter continue to seek for more money for the next round of election? Good governance can never be a subject of their concern because they in fact are the ones busy perpetuating bad governance...but the bottom-line question is: can we blame them alone? This in a nut shell is the sum total picture of a vicious cycle that is spreading the contagious virus of corruption in our State. We need to create serious awareness and let our voters know that Nagas are trying to go forward in a back gear.
Now, the Church is the only NGO that has a presence in every village in Nagaland without exception. This exclusive advantage along with the moral value issue involved relevantly places the Church to take the 'lead campaigner' responsibility. The Church Leaders ought to clearly be able to distinguish the difference between politics and religion by now. Their responsibility does not lie in taking sides for any political party but to present the subject purely from a moral and ethical perspective to the 'Christian' voting population...the need to be honest before God in upholding our individual democratic responsibility rather than lock up God during the election as is the present reality.
Taking stock of our strength must become a paramount consideration to confront this cancer with a commitment. Correct me if I am wrong but the hierarchical structure of the Church throws up a picture of NBCC only being a figurehead organization without teeth. The Executive Secretaries and the Pastors of all the Tribal Missions should normally be seen as the pivotal platform to pick up this challenge as 'lead campaigners' within their respective Tribes. However, the real powerhouse behind the screen rests with the Executive Committee Members (ECM) of all the Missions who ultimately make all the policy decisions of their respective Churches. It is the ECMs who need to be sensitised on the subject so that they can further empower their Executive Secretaries to take the message to the grassroots level through their respective Pastors in every village. Notwithstanding its figurehead status, NBCC as the dominant organization should take the lead responsibility of at least coordinating all Denominational Heads of Churches to brainstorm this vexed issue and chart out a common action plan. Most of all, the Pastors are the Most Important People as our last bastion of communication with our rural masses and therefore need to be given crash awareness course in this subject to enable them to carry out their responsibility with knowledgeable confidence and commitment.
2018 may seem far away but consider the mountain we have to climb to convince the already contaminated, slow-learning voting population of their democratic responsibility. Time is therefore of essence and the need to wake... urgent. NBCC should open its doors and windows and allow healthy cross ventilation of ideas to take place between the mission workers and the congregation they serve and allow God to really bless the Nagas.
Khekiye K. Sema IAS (Rtd) Upper Forest Colony; Kohima
