[dropcap]N[/dropcap]eiphiu Rio will be a much relieved man post May 16, 2014.
He has not only won the lone Lok Sabha seat on predictable lines on an NPF ticket but the gamble in deciding to ally with the BJP led NDA has held him in good stead. He also won the seat polling 7, 13, 372 votes of the total 10, 38, 914 votes polled, beating his Congress rival KV Pusa by over 4,00, 225.
The winning margin just falling short of the 4. 83 lakh votes that CM Chang won against Congress K Asungba Sangtam in 2009.
To make this journey to New Delhi, Rio, put at stake the top post of the state that of the office of the Chief Minister. The move almost unsettled the unity within the Naga People’s Front with the 38 MLA’s decidedly united in wanting to elect their own leader and camaping away at a resort in Kaziranga .They did not want a leader proposed to them. In the end it was an unexplained withdrawal by the proposed leader Noke Konyak , for the post of Chief Minister which upheld the unity of the party together. Questions now of course are being raised as to how robust the NPF is, post the ‘Kaziranga effect’ .
These power equations were being played out in the state against the raging contest of the Lok Sabha battle on the ground and on air 24x7 .
It left one undeniable truth that the ‘politics’ of Nagaland is overshadowed by the needs of a billion people in mainland India. We send one MP in a house of 543 MPs. Our electorate is less than 12 lakh in a nation of 850 million voters! And we want our voice to be heard our sentiments to be understood and our demands to be met. All of this knotted up in the issue of the Naga Political talks.
On the day of the biggest election results ever in history of modern India its best to pause and see how our own Naga future and history have constantly been shaped by the decisions that we take, none which have been imposed on us.
For example, it is perhaps not a co incidence that the decisive mandate to the 16th Lok Sabha 2014, is on May 16. The day reminds us that this day 63 years ago on May 16, 1951 our Naga elders steered the course of our future with a Plebiscite conducted to measure the response of the people to be a part of the new Indian Union or be independent.
The response was 99.9% in favour of Sovereignity and Naga Independence. The years that followed were bloody and will be a constant blotch and painful in the chapters of Naga history.
With the terrible events of army invasions and attacks that resulted after the Plebiscite, another group of leaders thought it best to sign the controversial 16 Point Agreement for peace and stop the blood flow in our fields and home .
It eventually led to the creation of the state of Nagaland. Even at this time there were ‘some ‘voices which thought that the negotiations on the issue of the future of the Nagas should be between the Government of India and those opposed to the Indian government and not between the Indian government and government servants. But we failed to confer with each other on these concerns.
This was the beginning of our dual “underground” and “overground” existence and the ushering of a parallel governing system.
Attempts to resolve our political right have always been weakened by our inability to be united in our thinking of the future we desire. This is not to say that Nagas have been more “ignoble” than the Indian counterpart ,I.e ,its army and its politicians.
The first ceasefire signed in 1964 was unilaterally abrogated in 1972 after the 6th round of talks in October, 1967 between Mrs. Gandhi and Sukhai broke down.
The decades after that 1972 uptil 1997 saw some bitter feuds internally between Naga brothers over who signed the Shillong Accord and who did not.
The politics over WHO is RIGHT and WHO is WRONG began. The issue of our ‘RIGHTS’ was forgotten.
After 33 years in 1997 with the BJP led NDA government at the helm of affairs, a ceasefire was announced to pave the way to talk on Naga political rights. The issue of “Naga Sovereignity “ was non- negotiable for the government of India, yet the talks were held with the NSCN (IM) leaders.
And finally in February 2012 , it was confirmed that indeed “ Sovereignity” need not necessarily be the core issue of the Naga politicaltalks with the Government of India.
The successive Congress led UPA government also continued to dialogue on the Naga political issue.
With another BJP led NDA government coming to power and the regional party an ally, there is a mixed sense of expectations of a solving the Naga political issue. No political party or governments have yet denied that the Naga political issue is genuine. But instead of collectively concentrating on the “political issue” every group that has emerged to broker or speak for Naga rights have cared more for their own survival than the safeguarding the RIGHTS of Nagas..
As stated above with the concern for the survival of 1 billion+plus population against the rights of a barely 3 million people (Nagas outside the state of Nagaland included) fighting between themselves,( all NPG’s) which Indian government in power will even have time to attend to matters in a Naga home kitchen. But if there is one united consistent voice that reflects everyone’s rights, not individual rights,then perhaps there are more chances for the government of India to listen attentively to matters of substance.
To arrange the Naga Political groups to arrive at such a consensus will be Rio’s toughest challenge yet.
But the time to take stock of reality and dreams and visions is upon us now.
Our rights are genuine and they must NOT become the right to subjugate each other.
It is time for the on- going talks to engage a wider perspective of public opinion, young voices, and technocrats to break the seeming stalemate of the current negotiations.
A major hurdle has also been that the negotiations are not transparent enough and don’t reflect the concerns of all. We need to get down to the nitty-gritty of knocking into place our perspectives and the manner in which they should be presented.
This can only be done with the collective wisdom, of public leaders across the board. But so long as there is no dialogue amongst ourselves how is this to be achieved?
Both the previous BJP-NDA government and the Congress led-UPA have always maintained that the Nagas should decide an alternative …if we prolong to arrive at this, who is to blame?
