In 1946, the Naga National Council (NNC) submitted a four-point memorandum to Jawaharlal Nehru, the President of the Indian National Congress who later became the first Prime Minister of India. The last point of the memorandum stated, “The Naga tribes should have a separate electorate”. Nehru was non-committal. Election was unknown to Nagas. Nagas did not want election. Nevertheless, should election be inevitable, Nagas desired to have separate electorates. Nagas desired that they elect their own leaders. They feared that mixed electorates might corrupt the electoral system. The Naga leaders of yore were very far-sighted. What they feared has come true in a span of half a century of statehood.
In 1952, when the republic of India announced the first elections (simultaneous Lok Sabha and State assembly elections), the NNC called for voluntary non-participation in that election. No Naga filed nomination and no Naga cast vote in that election. The response to NNC’s call was total. That was testament to Nagas’ rejection of Indian constitution. It was not a boycott in that; Nagas had nothing to do with Indian election. Nagas declared separate sovereignty for Nagaland before Indian attained independence.
In 1957, the republic of India held her second general elections (another simultaneous Lok Sabha and State assembly elections including Assam State Assembly election). NNC gave another call not to participate in that election too. By that time, some moderate NNC leaders had deserted NNC and formed the Reforming Committee. The Reforming Committee decided to field its candidates for the three Assembly seats allotted to Naga Hills Autonomous District Council in Assam Legislative Assembly. NNC had earlier rejected Autonomous District Council status. Mr. Khelhoshe Sema, Mr. Chubatemsu Ao and Subedar Satsuo Angami filed their nomination papers. No other candidates filed nomination. So, they were declared elected unopposed.
In 1960, the Naga People’s Convention (NPC) signed sixteen-point agreement with the Government of India and created Nagaland State in the Union of India. Many Nagas died defending the sovereignty of Nagaland. Accepting statehood was betrayal of blood, sweat and tears. The first Nagaland State general election came in 1964. A section of Nagas participated in that election. The poll result recorded 50.51% voter turnout, which Nagas knew was from massive proxy voting. Nagas strongly believed in the divine lead in their defense of sovereign Nagaland. Participating in Indian sponsored State election was not what God had planned for Nagas. Nagas disobeyed God. Corrupt elections set in, giving rise to corrupt governments. By 1980s, Nagaland imported methods like buying vote by using money power and booth capturing by muscle power from mainland India. Hunger for power made the elected members change sides and governments changed every now and then. Elections in Nagaland came to be criminalized thoroughly.
In 1998, the Naga Hoho and NSCN (IM) called for “No election without solution”. All other political parties responded to the call. Indian National Congress and independent candidates defied the call and filed nominations. INC won in 53 A/Cs and independents in 07 A/Cs. Those who boycotted the election accused INC and independents of betrayal. As pay back, the Naga nationalists, especially the NSCN (IM) plunged into election in 2003 and brought down the powerful Congress government. Political solution and election 2018 are in another rat race. Re-enacting the episode of 1998 election boycott is not rule out.
On September 15, 2017, the Nagaland-based print media report, quoting one former officer of Election Commission of India (ECI), indicated that ECI can postpone assembly polls only if a special request is made by the Centre and the State citing the Framework agreement. Assembly polls are just five months away. Only time will tell what happens next.
In the last two-three decades, elections in Nagaland have become monstrously corrupt. Corrupt elections have bred corrupt governments. In fact, corrupt elections have become the root cause of most problems in Nagaland. It alarmed the church. The church called for clean election in 2013 State General election. The church leaders said it was not a failure but called it “some success”. Buoyed by that success story, the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) had kick-started another Clean Election Campaign (CEC) for election 2018. The church is optimistic that success rate will rise with every election. However, nobody will dare predict how many elections it will take for total success.
In 65 years since 1952, Nagas have so quickly evolved from “No election” (a rejection of Indian constitution) to “Clean election” (acceptance and assimilation into Indian election system). Ironic indeed! Nagas know very well how dirty, elections have become in Nagaland. Clean election has become something unthinkable by most Nagas. In such situation, the campaign for clean election is already proving to be an uphill task. The challenge may be tempting. Many may say it is worth taking the challenge. Sad part is that, we are yet to catch the monster by its horns but attacking it from the rear only. Logically speaking, mono task action like voter education, as strongly advocated by NBCC’s CEC should not be difficult to work in a State with literacy rate of 79.55%. The task should be even easier in a State where Christians make up 90% of the total population. Regrettably, these are not the case. The problem of corrupt election in Nagaland is very complex. This is a clear pointer that it demands multi task action plans. Elections are corrupting our people politically, socially, economically and spiritually. The system has gone rotten beyond retrieve. With such magnitude of destruction, the question is, “Do Nagas even need election”?
Before statehood, Nagas never practiced election. There was no election system. It was not our political culture. Traditionally, Nagas elected leaders on the merits of the ‘would be’ leaders. Modern system of elections came with statehood. It is an alien system imposed on Nagas. The cancer of corruption has eaten into Naga bones. Corrupt election is the main cause of this deadly disease. It has become resistant and its spread has gone out of control. Our attempt should have been to prevent the evil thing coming to us again. Regrettably, Nagas love Indian elections. The church decided to play its role and launched clean election campaign. The Indian government must be happy that the church, instead of keeping away from the unclean, has stepped in to help cleanse the corrupt system. Nagas should revisit what happened in 1952. That historic political step taken by Nagas plainly speaks that the right thing to do should have been; “no election campaign” and not “clean election campaign”. God save Nagaland!
