In Nagaland, the VIPs have more privilege than the President or Prime Minister of India. I say this because of their reckless behaviour. No polished VIPs do like them. The sense of respect for others is too less in many of our VIPs. One worst behaviour of these VIPs is to squeeze themselves inside the jam-packed road to show themselves off. Such wild behaviour raises the eyebrow of the public and the passersby. In spite of heavy traffic jam in Kohima, you will notice very often the Boss culture in Nagaland.
The drivers of these bosses drive the car with maximum pride and speed to show their importance even on the bad road. They make the situation worse in the crowded road. The one who causes traffic jam in the towns are people of this type. A simple name plate in front of the vehicle changes the whole of the person and the atmosphere around them (You must have noticed police personals removing the illegal name plates on the vehicles some few years back. The name plates have resurrected with the heat of election). They can horn and whistle even in the prohibited area, they can drive faster beyond the normal speed.
They can splash dirty water on other vehicles during rainy seasons, and apply dust on the poor pedestrians during dry winter. They enjoy the journey inside the closed doors of the vehicles. These types of movies are shot everyday on the road. And Nagaland has sufficient actors and actresses for such spectacular actions.
The traffic police will have no words; s/he only blinks at the behaviour of Naga boss. The common men and women are scolded left and right for their slight disobedience to the traffic rules. While on the contrary, the big boss gets salute even if he disobeys traffic rules every day. The faster the vehicle, the faster the salute! The traffic police are so keen on locking the wrongly parked vehicles of the common men with a big piece of iron, yet they close their eyes to some vehicles even if it is parked abnormally. I am sure, traffic rules are meant for all irrespective of our status of life. When VIPs and other officials of the State show such irresponsible and careless behaviour, how do we expect simple, ignorant and illiterate men to follow the same?
Are laws made by the VIPs or legislature meant only for others, not for them? They want all people to follow and obey the laws without any excuse, but they themselves break it in front of the public.
Can we call this disobedience or privilege? May all who cause nuisance on the highway/road answer this question before they cause more trouble for other passengers and pedestrians. If you are the culprit of disobedience, please be careful next time if not your over-exercise of rights and privileges can be fatal for other travellers.
There are certain privileges reserved for VIPs and other officials of the State. The public need to respect such privileges. But the wrong usage of it 24×7 may not receive applause from the public.
Decency and decorum on the road speak better than the normal exercise of duties in the offices. Usually, the State VIPs/officials who habitually break the traffic rule will be the one to officially declare the need for respect and obedience to the law. They will dignify all men and women in the platform, but does not put them into practice in their personal life.
They will praise the public only to get thunderous clap. Yet they cannot implement the same speech on the less maintained road. All VIPs vehicles in Nagaland need not be Ambulance.
We all need to learn and cultivate respect for each other in every place and at every time. This will indeed turn an individual towards self-respect. Let us respect each other as fellow human beings. This will bring greater peace and understanding in our Naga society.
Rev. Fr. G. L. Khing
