The BJP has the most to gain from a fractured and weakened NPF
The internal power struggle within the Naga People’s Front (NPF), which plunged Nagaland State in further chaos and bitterness, has earned the general public’s anger. The people are expressing their deep discontentment and resentment by turning to name shaming and satire in protest against the cycle of political instability caused by the constant bickering over the Chief Ministership. Indeed, the legislators, like dancing puppets, are jumping to somebody else’s tune.
The NPF has been in power for three terms since 2003, and has had four chief ministers during this time in the person of: Neiphiu Rio, TR Zeliang and Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu. Despite leading the DAN coalition government with an overwhelming majority in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly, and at times an “opposition-less” government, the NPF, like most power-driven regimes, has suffered an inherent weakness – the power struggle within.
This weakness is clearly seen structurally and functionally. And, perhaps the interplay of these two weaknesses is one reason why it failed to effectively harness and build upon the people’s initial goodwill during its early days in power.
Ironically, the NPF’s greatest weakness has been the lack of a strong and vibrant opposition in the legislative assembly. In the absence of an opposition to hold it accountable and responsible to the people, the NPF by large behaved with arrogant swagger, thereby, creating a disconnect with the people leading to trust deficit. In the process, it lost sight of its objectives, and most of its initiatives were reduced to sloganeering and commercial branding, without much substance.
The present drama marks the culmination of all these factors. Sadly, the absence of an opposition has allowed the NPF’s internal power struggle to drag the entire State down with it. In essence, the NPF has defeated itself.
The question remaining is: Who actually benefits from the game of musical chairs? From an insular Nagaland state politics perspective, it is the one who ultimately got the Chief Minister’s chair. However, from a sub-continent perspective, it is the BJP which will benefit. While Rio, TR and Shürhozelie are being reduced to pawns wrangling for power in the game of political chess, a political vacuum has been created. In fact one can argue that ever since Rio was lured to Delhi, the NPF lost the advantage to BJP. The NPF may have been aware of the bait, but were simply blind to the hook.
Now, with a fractured NPF, a depleted Congress (I) Party, the newly untested Democratic Progressive Party and Nagaland Congress, and the other political parties at the sidelines, the BJP seems to have grabbed the initiative to broaden its political base in the name of political stability and clean governance.
With Nagaland State scheduled for state elections in early 2018, the pre-election dramas in Assam and Manipur, and the political craftiness demonstrated in Arunachal Pradesh were strong indicators of the impending possibilities of a similar situation taking place in Nagaland. The ruling dispensation should have known better. Or were they caught off-guard, simply out-foxed or just too arrogant to even consider the possibility that such a situation would arise in Nagaland. Either way, this is yet another unfortunate example which informs us that Nagas are not very open to embracing the vital learning from other people’s experiences.
In such politically unstable times such as these, we need to reflect on what kind of qualities our representatives need to have, and which leaders can best represent our needs and aspirations.
