Who is the Government: The People or the Ministers?: Comments and Justifications

A Democratic government is rightly defined, by both Mr. Jonas Yanthan, Morung Express 17.01.2017; as well as Mr. Robert Silverstein, also Morung Express, 18.01.2017, as “government of the people, by the people and for the people”. Accordingly we, the Nagas, have an absolute right to insist that India, being the largest Democracy in the world and Nagaland being an Indian state, the Nagaland state government should be “Democratic”. Then are we satisfied that our Nagaland state government is democratic? What about imposing CrPC 144 to launch a contractor against the rights of the land owners, or dispersing peaceful rallies with water Cannon and tear gas? Are Peaceful demonstrations and rallies, not democratic? I am not a lawyer; but as far as I understand, such forms of expressing displeasure are democratic means of showing people’s resentment. What about the Hongkong public demonstrations against Chinese high-handedness or Seoul public demonstrations against President Park Geun Hye? Were these demonstrations dispersed with either water cannon or tear gas? And compared to Hongkong or Seoul demonstrations, our Nagaland demonstrations are insignificant. Also, what about convening a Consultative meeting with Naga Tribal bodies, on the 16th November 2016, for amendment of Nagaland Municipal Act (NMA) 2001, amended in2006, in which all tribal bodies, expressed their opposition to the said NMA; and then within the same month, instead of listening to the people, our elected leaders had revoked their earlier Resolution of 22.9.2012 against Woman Reservation? Oh, so that is Nagaland democracy, Eh? Let us come to the point of Mr. Robert Silverstein, who clarifies to Mr. Jonas Yanthan, who asked “in whom does power lay, the elected members or the people?”. Excuse me; but I am not sure as to who Mr. Robert Silverstein is, whose name seems to me to be a Non Naga! If you, Mr. Robert Silverstein, is a bonafide Naga, kindly bear with me. My point is ‘let the Nagas speak for themselves’, since nose-poking is also illegal. Mr. Silverstein explains what a ‘Republic’ is and justifies that “in a democratic republic, the supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law”. It is not clear to me, what he means by “them“ (…responsible to them). Anyway, Mr. Silverstein, you are absolutely correct, in your definitions. But the billion dollar question is “are the elected representatives exercising their voting right and power in the best interests of the electorate or are they doing so in a dictatorial manner?” You see, Mr. Silverstein, we the electorate, have elected our representatives, to protect us, stand for our rights, to do our welfare, listen to us and show accommodating attitude, so that we go together for the common good, including their good: not definitely for using their entitled voting right, to rule us with an iron hand. We also do not question you, Mr. Silverstein, or our representatives, as to whether they are doing according to law, as enunciated by you. Yes, our representatives are definitely doing and passing Acts and Resolutions, etc perfectly according to law. But once again the billion dollar question is “are they (our representatives) passing Acts and Resolutions, for the good of the electorate, their people, or are they doing so to infringe on the rights of their electorate and to torture them and make them slaves, in their own land?” In short, Mr. Silverstein, we are not defining what a Democracy or Republic is; or in what way our elected leaders carry out their proceedings, whether according to law or illegally; but we are asking whether our elected leaders are passing Acts and Resolutions, for our good or against us. Let us also go to some other points, Mr. Silverstein. We see in the Election Manifestoes of most political parties, many idealistic mottos explicitly highlighted for the welfare of the electorate. There is an old saying “during election campaigns politicians promise to build bridges even where there is no river”. Of course, not where there is no river and not even across every river; but we expect them to do so at least across some of the existing rivers. But instead, they prefer to wade through the rivers water instead of building bridges. So also many, many more such dissatisfactions are there; but why waste space and time unnecessarily, it is not going to be of any use, and this is exactly why we question. Are our elected leaders carrying out their entitled and oath- taken duties? What about the Enquiry and Investigations into the recent Fuel Adulteration or misuse of Public Distribution System cases? Should our elected representatives exercise their mandated power to do things with ulterior motives, in connivance with unscrupulous elements? In our present context, what we mean by “Government of the people or the Ministers”, is “are our elected leaders, truly our representatives or foes?”. If South Korea, as a Democracy, can make its “world class” President, to step down, what about the Nagas??? Finally, I am all in all, with Mr. Jonas Yanthan. Readers will kindly pardon me for the delay, the reason being, I am at Wokha, and our elected, representative state government, had stopped data service for Wokha and Phek, with its iron hand, yes, against freedom of speech and expression, guaranteed by the Indian Constitution; and this is exactly why we question them, Mr. Silverstein! Er. Mhondamo Ovung, Retired Chief Engineer, PHED, Nagaland, Wokha.