It is not everyday that we get to see and hear the constitutional head of a state in India write a lengthy D.O letter of displeasure to the Chief Minister of the concerned state, and that too, making it public. This, in itself, is the clearest indication that we Nagas today, indeed, have a peoples Governor. Governor Ravi is not a politician but a 1976 – batch IPS officer who served as the Deputy National Security Advisor and also the Intelligence Bureau Director, and, therefore, shoots straight from the hip and have no reservations in calling a spade a spade. Giving credit where it is due, all thanks to the GOI for appointing our interlocutor, R. N. Ravi, as the Governor of Nagaland.
Governor Ravi is the best that has happened to Nagaland after a succession of a series of Governors who all fell to the whims and charms of our Chief Ministers. It is only today, we Nagas have a Governor who has the gall to stand up to the working machinations of the executive and question the Chief Minister, as per law. And what does the law say? The law, as in the 16 Point Agreement, say that the Governor shall have special responsibility for so long as the law and order situation continues to remain disturbed on account of hostile activities. In exercising this special responsibility, the Governor shall, after consultation with the state executive, act in his individual judgment. This special responsibility of the Governor will cease when normalcy returns.
Article 371(A) is a written document that is a law in itself and therefore any Naga group or individual cannot take the liberty to interpret or misinterpret the article according to their own whims and fancy. The law is definitely relevant and in force.
Governor Ravi is going by the book. If the unabated taxation, extortions and intimidations in the face of the barrel of the gun is not hostile activity, then what is? And this is only the tip of the iceberg. The real extortion is in the syndication – the mafia system of intimidation and transactions in crores which the higher echelons of the armed Naga groups have perfected into an art. Even as the foot cadres are victimized for petty extortions in Nagaland, the higher ups of the armed groups/gangs hardly gets a mention for swindling and extorting crores through ‘hawala’ channels spanning not just different cities of India but abroad as well. The gospel truth is that the face of Naga nationalism has been completely twisted beyond recognition purely for personal gain. Governor Ravi’s letter to the Chief Minister is the clearest indication that he was compelled to act in his individual judgment after being frustrated with the meaningless consultations with the executive which had simply failed to exercise its powers to safeguard the interests of the people. Without saying it aloud, Governor Ravi has simply admitted the fact that the state government is literally hijacked by the armed Naga groups/gangs.
Governor Ravi is that one man who knows the intricacies of the Naga political problem, and, therefore, the need of that drive to take on the bull by the horns. This completely separates him from all the past Governors of Nagaland. He, having being the interlocutor before his appointment as Governor, has been a boon for Nagaland. As it is, he had been instrumental in the signing of the framework agreement and then bringing the several groups together so as to enable the formulation of one solution for the Nagas.
The tragedy here lays with the Naga political groups. They failed to take advantage of the door that Governor Ravi had opened for them to reconcile, come and stand together in one voice, for that one Naga solution. Naga solution has room for all the Nagas and yet the Naga political groups failed to reconcile. Each group content with their own government, own taxation, extortion and intimidation in the common name of Naga nationalism. This is never standing for Naga political issue by any stretch of imagination. This is plain gangsterism which the Governor rightly pointed out. After all these decades we have a Governor who genuinely cares enough to call a spade a spade and we spite him for that? Let us not cut our nose to spite the face.
Allow me to pin point the cause of our unfortunate circumstance today. The Chief Minister, in order to safeguard his chair, has already turned a blind eye to the unhindered corruption at all levels and has made no effort to eradicate the ills that are destroying the health and vitality of our society, the state, and its institutions. The personal agenda of the Chief Minister seems to have taken precedence over governance and because of this the legitimacy of the state government is being openly challenged without any resistance from the state law and order machinery. Instead, the state police have become a partner in crime collecting their share of taxes in check gates along with the half a dozen armed groups.
It is not as if the Naga people are not aware of the bankruptcy in leadership today. People are not being able to speak out their mind but the crying need is for leaders to whom the purity of the method to achieve a goal is as important as the goal itself. Instead what do we have today? Where is the consultation or the transparency? Do people have any inkling about what is being transpired between the Chief Minister and the armed Naga groups? The people have been sandwiched by the policy of ‘live and let live’ between the Chief Minister of Nagaland and the armed Naga groups
Thank God for Governor Ravi. What little developmental projects we see in Nagaland today is because of him. Nagas have for too long shied away from calling a spade a spade. It is because of the inaction, if not the patronage, of the state government that today we are forced to swallow the audacity of the NSCN commenting in the print media about the madness of “extortion” that are being carried out by some groups in the guise of freedom fighters. The NSCN even went to the extent of validating itself as a “holier than thou entity” which does not commit extortion at any point of time but levies legitimate taxes from the people. The people are being forced to swallow this hypocrisy in the face of an impotent law and order machinery of the state government.
NNC of the old under the leadership of AZ Phizo fought for defending the legitimate right of the Naga people. The NSCN is a break-away faction from the mainstream NNC and which basically adopted the communist ideology as its manifesto. It is completely an anti-thesis to the purest form of democracy of the Naga people. The same faction is now the fountain head of extortion, intimidation and lawlessness in the state. The inaction of the state government in checking this menace is not going to stop the people in raising voice against the illegitimacy and the associated crimes of the NSCN.
Today, we have a state government that is not mindful of history but only of itself, and is only too happy to appease the many armed groups in order to solidify its hold on power at the expense of development and the suffering public. Yes, the hopelessness was enveloping but thank you, Governor Ravi, for being that glimmer of hope and light at the end of a long dark tunnel. Thank you once again for calling a spade a spade, and for being the peoples Governor. And rest assured, we love you and stand solidly behind you.
Dr. Kakheto Zhimomi