The Naga Mothers' Association finally broke the silence on the recent strife in the state between the public led by the tribe organisations and the government arising out of the conduct of ULBs elections. The association has reiterated its stand to continue to fight for women reservation in the ULBs as long as the state has the Municipal Act and Part IX A of the constitution is in force. The association however did not touch upon the applicability of Part IX A of the constitution in Nagaland and since that case has become more prominent now after the government declared the elections null and void, it will continue to take most of the spaces in the Naga society in the days to come.
As humans there have been transparent display of confirmation biases by all the concerned groups and individuals in this issue whether for or against the conduct of the polls. However there would not have been any debate in the public arena if and only if the government was able to give a conclusive explanation for reviving the Municipal Act 2001 that was kept aside and almost repealed. It was the August House of the 11th Nagaland Legislative Assembly that took the recommendation led by the sitting chief minister and the president of the NPF party who as Ministers in the then government resolved to "reject the applicability of Part IX A of the Constitution of India and further recommend the NLA to pass a resolution to frame its own laws for conduct of Municipal and Town Council Act in lieu of Part IXA of the Constitution". The then leader of the opposition, the CLP leader Tokheho Yepthomi also added in the Assembly that even during their government it was unable to tackle the issue and had left the Municipal elections untouched. He also concurred with the decision, if it was the wisdom of the House to refer the Act to an Assembly select committee. Subsequently, the Assembly Resolution of September 2001 set aside the Municipal Act 2001. The one step short was that the Assembly did not pass a corresponding Act to repeal the Municipal Act 2001. However when the government revoked its own resolution of September 2012 in November 2016 in a hurry to conduct the elections without as much as any debate it only antagonised the tribe organisations more. Then, other forms of interpretations also started to surface from people who practised law. Moreover, though quite late and in spite of all the shortcomings the Naga public were made to believe and realise, but not untrue, that the Supreme Court can never interpret Naga customary laws and traditional practices. As a result the issue was open to interpretations and so various angles and perspectives were employed to put one's case across in the public domain without any meeting point.
The NMA today has denounced that its fight for women rights was not a fight against men. In the same way NMA also has be clear on its stand whether the movement was politically motivated as it has alleged or if it was instead a movement by Naga men against its women. Else the media has projected this issue across the world purely as an issue of Naga men against women. Unfortunately, it has also opened up the proverbial Pandora's box and the little room that was left for dialogue is now almost seems lost. The liberals even among the men that would have vouched for women reservation will now be further silenced all in the name of protecting the Naga lands and its rights, unless the reservation issue and the land is separated. It is an episode that NMA could have averted being in the role that it had played in the state over the years. The NMA was the mother figure, the pacifist and the peacemaker but its image now has been ascribed as that of an imposer by many.
The practise by all the stakeholders to indulge only in selective recalls of the events past associated with the municipal act since 2001 was the main reason for worsening the situation. It might have also been the low legal aptitude of the people especially the lawmakers themselves and leaders of all the organisations and institutions that made it more acute. The confrontationist stand taken by all starting with the government, the political parties, JAWCR/NMA and the tribe organisations was displayed for all to see. However the actions that actually provoked the masses cannot be just cast aside as petty political motivations. That would be another confirmation bias.
