Yet another political party has come up from the ashes of the political turmoil that prevailed in the state since the former chief minister Neiphiu Rio decided to leave state politics in lieu of the lone Lok Sabha seat from the State in April 2014. His departure created a vacuum within the power centres of the ruling Naga Peoples Front party led DAN alliance that the last 3 years since his leaving has always witnessed high political drama being enacted frequently.
The political scenario in the State plunged into deep crises when the person who the outgoing chief minister gave his blessings to was supposedly not welcomed by the party president and many of the legislators. So as the chief minister was busy campaigning for his alliance partners in the northeast region, a new consensus leader of the House emerged in the person of TR Zeliang. The notable feature of this new government under him saw junior MLAs and first timers in the cabinet. This did not go down well with the senior MLAs of the NPF party leading to attempts to dislodge the government unsuccessfully.
The most conspicuous aspect of this tenure was the cut-throat race for power among the MLAs of all the political parties. The current tenure has seen one of the highest numbers of mergers among the political parties. At the end of it the national parties like NCP, Congress and JD(U) were all reduced to zero in the 12th Nagaland Legislative Assembly with 47 NPF excluding the Speaker; 4 BJP; and 8 Independent MLAs, all 59 being part of the DAN alliance, at least outwardly. However, every party was divided atleast into two blocs in the ominous race for power by the MLAs and the party workers.
The first party that was badly affected was the Indian National Congress whose all 8 MLAs including its former president of the party merged with the NPF party. The remaining members of the party organisation also had a major fallout especially with the new president, leading to disqualifications, removals and resignations of senior members. This led to the formation of the Nagaland Congress Party in 2016 by the former Congress MLAs and party workers. Now the latest is the formation of the Democratic Progressive Party notably by some former NPF and DAN, candidates and MLAs along with some senior party workers.
With the assembly elections expected to be conducted in early 2018, if not earlier, the political climate in the state have suddenly started to warm up with the launch of the new political parties. However, the pulse of the people seems to have reached a stage where they have understood the ill effects of corruption and money play during elections. It was quite evident during the protest against ULB elections when the elected members at first refused to listen to the masses. Moreover the continued stagnancy in the state especially the severe economic conditions prevailing at present is blamed on the excessive use of money during elections. In such a scenario, the manifestoes of the new political parties as well as the old ones will be eagerly awaited by the people. Although the topic of corruption has become a daily talk, no political party is yet to comment on improved, increased and valid welfare programmes that can be legally availed by the masses. Can any one of the these lot bring in a game changer with such a reform into the political scenario for the better?
