Veteran Naga politician and Governor-designate of Odisha Dr. S.C.Jamir rued the breakdown of governance in Nagaland where an elected government could not uphold the rule of law as per the constitution as unseen forces were holding the keys.
He said this while speaking at the programme organized by the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) to felicitate him on appointment as Governor of Odisha at the Congress bhavan here Tuesday.
Speaking to a large gathering of Congress party legislators, functionaries and workers, Jamir said the need was for a change and bring the system to even keel otherwise, the same fate would befall whichever party that came to power.
The five-time chief minister who was also Governor (2004-2010) of several states, recalled that when the Congress was in power for several years in the past, it had run the affairs of the state without hindrance from “any anti-social and anti-national elements.”
He said Congress is a major political party in the state which “never comprised” on the basic principle of the party which people could identify with.
He however lamented that over the years, the Congress, due to pressing circumstances or perhaps prompted by opportunism, had strayed away from its basic policy and ideology.
Jamir opined that “perhaps for immediate gain we have sacrificed the party’s ideology. We made ourselves politically naked and in this way the beauty of the party was disfigured and damaged the party image.”
No Naga settlement without people’s consent
Dr. Jamir also said that there can be no final political settlement to the vexed Naga issue without the “knowledge and consent” of the entire Naga people.
Lamenting over the current state of the Naga political issue, Dr. Jamir said Naga polity has been in “complete disarray” and every Naga for the last more than 60 years have been talking about the same issue as if it was the only agenda for them.
He said this obsession with the issue had “stonewalled” other important aspects of development, economic, social, human resources, cultural and many others that were essential for the development of the society.
Dr. Jamir said the same condition would continue until the people were given the opportunity to express their views and opinions on the kind of political arrangement that would be honourable and acceptable.
On Congress debacle
On the recent dismal performance of the Congress in the recently concluded assembly elections, Dr. Jamir asked the party workers to seriously retrospect and analyze the cause of the failure instead of resorting to a blame game.
He said this was a golden opportunity for them to make an honest assessment of “what we work for, what we are and what we should be.” He added that it was time to know “our strength and weakness” from this situation.
Asserting that Congress was not only a political party but also a people’s movement, Dr. Jamir reminded Congress members that whether they sit in the opposition or not, they should be agents and instruments of social and political change.
“One should not be only eager to be an MLA or a minister but it is a sacred duty to be a servant of the people”, he said.
He encouraged party workers not to lose heart though the party had to concede defeat in the recently concluded state assembly elections in which the Congress was nearly wiped out of the state. Dr. Jamir asked Congress workers to stand firm in discouraging defections by elected members since it has become a rampant phenomenon among the political parties including “underground factions.”
He urged party members to be a genuine and stand for unity. “Congress has to go back to its original stand, i.e. to forge unity among Naga people for better future, progress and prosperity,” he added.
The felicitation progarmme was chaired by NPCC vice president Tingyeih Konyak. Short speeches were delivered by Nagaland Pradesh Mahila Congress president N. Lucy, Seva Dal chief organizer G.K. Rengma. Bouquet was presented to Dr. S.C. Jamir at the function.
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