Z. Lohe
[dropcap]I[/dropcap] definitely feel unfit to make this observation knowing my unlimited limitations. And yet having watched the ongoing situation in Nagaland I am attracted to give the following observations and opinion.
Whenever Assembly election comes in Nagaland people in a Constituency segment used to urge and inspire a rich youthful gentleman to be a candidate but every time he used to decline. The young rich man knows himself well that what God gave him is the gift of business and not political profession. Since he has money if he contests he would win but he prefers to uphold his original gift by which he would be able to do yeoman service to his people. There is no dearth of capable leaders willing to serve that area and yet the public simply wanted to enjoy the money the businessman has accumulated and not the leadership. Today, the common philosophy and its maxim is that ‘that gentleman is found to be very capable(as politician)’ and the instant retort is ‘yes, but he has no money’. Finally, capable or not capable the one who has money and ready to spend is elected to lead the constituency. To the Nagas of Nagaland, the basic qualities such as integrity, honesty, humbleness and above all God fearing of the candidate are irrelevant. What matters to a voter is how substantial is the price his vote can fetch during election. Majority of voters are not contented with a single price in one election lest their votes are sold to multiple candidates. In Nagaland very few cast vote honestly in the fear of God. Since few means few, they remain mute spectators as majority rules and have their say.
I don’t have intention to indict everyone but the ground reality is, today we realized that we have more businessmen than politicians running the show. What many of the representatives think, plan, talk and do is mostly material gain and hardly politics. Many representatives do business through their registered private companies in the name of their kith and kin. Someone once said that ‘a spoon is used by politician when he eats; whereas a shovel is used when a businessman-turned-politician eats. In the process he even inadvertently picks up the salary component of Govt. employees’.In Nagaland which leader is talking about control of price rise that has immense impact on every household? Who bothers about bad roads, not to talk about District roads but see the condition of Dimapur-Kohima road. Who has concern for erratic power supply? Who sincerely cares for public health? Except the Governor of Nagaland I have not heard any VIP talking about the prevailing education system and whether the RTE suits us or destroying the children. Who bothers about work culture and transparency? Is there any MLA having genuine concern for reformation of the society which is in haywire? We can go on but let us save space.
On the contrary, I heard more of DAN MLAs murmuring about their discontentment over the issue of induction and portfolio allocations as headlined in front pages of local papers more often than ever. NPF is not my party and it’s none of my business to bother about its quarrel. Rather, I better watch their internal bickering on the gallery silently as per political nature and see the end result. Nevertheless, what matters is that they waste so much time licking their selfish wounds at the expense of public service. Secondly, in quest for personal positions they brought a new political culture definitely detrimental to old political ethic. For instance, is it ethical for any Honourable MLA to serve public ultimatum to his Chief Minister to grant him what he wants? In order to get a position in the Ministry or to get a desired portfolio can an MLA undertake procession, block the public road with supporters or damage the common properties? Who has taught the Hon. MLAs of today to belittle the Chief Minister of Nagaland whoever he may be? Sorry, a very bad precedent is created. India will not be surprised if Nagaland CM is kidnapped and held by a very capable MLA or group of MLAs till the desired portfolios are allotted to him/them. If the Honourable MLAs are bereft of culture, courtesy, humbleness, magnanimity and such ethics but have barbaric guts guided by their overflowing egos and have such audacity to kick around their CM then none of them should expect respect from the public. Are they elected to be fully engaged to please one another and pacify each other leaving public in the lurch?
When the Govt. is struggling to even pay its employees regularly, the new CM is compelled to opt for maximum Govt. with minimum governance contrary to what their godfather’s philosophy. To please every DAN MLA a jumbo size ministry is set and to the extent of offering Cabinet status to many MLAs. The whole exercise is nothing but taxing on the State’s exchequer at the expense of the public.
When two elephants fight it is the grass beneath them which gets crushed. When DAN MLAs fight for personal positions the effective governance is crushed, the delivery is abandoned and the austerity measure is sidelined. Today Nagaland has been in its worst peril. Imagine, it is historic that the State had its Plan holiday last year. Since development activities had been switched off, the new CM had to brazenly asked the PM Modi to give ‘one-time grant’ so as to switch on the same activities again. All the best, let’s see.
Who am I to teach anybody? However, the events cited above are embarrassing. My belief is this. The elected Chief Minister of Nagaland, as we all know, has the prerogative to form his Council of Ministers with whom he trusts and whom he fears. He has the prerogative to allot portfolios to each of them in his wisdom. Therefore, any MLA who claims to be politician and aspiring to get any position or portfolio has the right to lobby discretely and confidentially in camera with due respect to his C.M. and not otherwise.
I don’t know whether any voter in Nagaland has any regret for supporting a very unruly and quarrelsome bunch of MLAs compelling the CM to adopt the monkey style of portfolio distribution. Yet, it is hard to believe that such regret will make any voter wiser, because when the next election comes the visions will be blurred by currency notes and the regret, the anger and the conscience will evaporate.
Whatever may be the temptations and circumstances, people of Nagaland must realize that our land needs genuine politicians. The politicians cannot do magic to heal the ills of the land but they will begin the process. The politicians to be members of the Assembly and allow the business people to do business under the political leadership.
