Politics of rhetoric

 Even days before the Dimapur Chamber of Commerce and Industry(DCCI) on September 11, announced a one-day closure of all shops in Dimapur on September 16, various district commerce bodies had earlier renewed their call on the authorities to curb extortions but all to no avail. The state-level Confederation of Nagaland Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CNCCI) on September 13, announced its support and also expanded the stir to a one-day statewide closure. Both DCCI and CNCCI have drawn the government’s attention to the inglorious cottage industry called item-wise tax imposed on goods entering Dimapur; the ridiculous amount imposed tyre-wise as road tax on trucks, then tax on godowns where the goods are eventually stored, followed by the misery of several so-called voluntary organisations imposing their right of tax and the last gasp squeezed out by various government agencies on items for which GST has already been paid prior to despatch to Dimapur. On rampant multiple taxation by government agencies at check gates on items under GST, the government has decided that civic authorities cannot collect taxes on items that are under GST since all taxes are paid prior to despatch. However, perhaps civic bodies will still collect toll tax on roads and bridges (which are constructed by the government) and on footpath vendors(mostly locals) since all shopping complexes and stalls have been leased out to non-locals by the locals themselves. It is also time for public to check if civic bodies are actually doing their job after collecting various taxes. The chambers of commerce had also repeated concerns against rampant and blatant illegal imposition of tax on all items by various political groups including government agencies at check gates. These activities under whatever pretexts, continue to dominate the attention of the public and over which the media had written reams since the past decades. There were many appeals, some even in the form of ultimatum and some resulting in protest closure of business establishments and institutions during the past few years against this inglorious and destructive syndrome. The mushrooming of illegal collections in Dimapur has earned it a notoriety as the extortion capital, by virtue of being the commercial hub of the state. DCCI had even as way back as August 31, stated that despite the covid lockdown causing economic distress and loss incurred by the business establishments due to closure of businesses for over a year, yet not only extortions continued but had increased sharply. The government had at least two weeks to address the issue raised by the DCCI on August 31 and repeated on September 11 with ultimatum to solve the matter or there will be one-day closure of shops in Dimapur. The state government did nothing and neither did it call for dialogue with the DCCI and CNCC. At such a critical moment, it was expected that the government will sensibly give a rest to its perpetual and illogical political rhetoric on unity of all and playing the role as facilitators and also showing what unity is through the “opposition-less government” and focus on governance at least for a day. The government had enough time to call for a “consultative meeting”, a favourite and popular option to dispose off matters. The government decided on the matter on September 14 and its belated appeal that was published on September 15 was too little and too late.