The disease infecting Nagaland

For the last ten years, Nagaland has been suffering from a serious disease and if left untreated, runs the risk of it becoming malignant and untreatable. Everybody knows about the disease but nobody is, actually, talking about the disease. When nobody seriously talks about the disease, how can it be cured? What must people of Nagaland do to cure this recurring disease? This cure can only happen by exposing and analysing the disease.
So what is the disease? The disease is called the ‘oppositionless government’. Nagaland got infected with this deadly disease in 2013, and since then, it has been the root cause of all the problems in the state. The only beneficiary of this disease, at the expense of public welfare, was the Chief Minister and his flock of power crazy legislators.
Look at the NPF party today. It has become a pale shadow of its former formidable self only because of its participation in an oppositionless government. Had the members of the NPF party remained firm as an opposition party for the sake of the people, it would have been standing tall today, with all the other political parties pivoting towards it, and benefitting from the anti-incumbency wave in the state. The short-sighted and narrow vested interest minded NPF party members failed to understand that in a democratic system of government, there has to be an opposition party not just to preserve the sanctity of the assembly but to vociferously highlight the shortcomings of the government, and, in doing so, pave for itself the road to power. There is absolutely no reason to justify an oppositionless all party government in Nagaland today, even more so when the solution to the Naga political issue remains an agenda.
There can be no meaningful change in the state unless there is holistic planning – a roadmap, and there can be no roadmap in any oppositionless government since the primary agenda of every member of the oppositionless government will, naturally, be self interest.
It is a no-brainer to not understand that a Chief Minister will be open to forging unholy alliances, and, even better, an oppositionless government to safeguard and secure his chair as has happened in Nagaland since 2013. Since there was no opposition, for 10 long years the personal opinion of the Chief Minister became the state policy in all matters including the Naga political issue. The oppositionless state government had consistently maintained that development of the state has been hindered because of the unresolved political issue.
Let us be very clear here. Despite the unresolved political issue, the development in Nagaland from 1963 onwards till the dawn of the new century was stable and consistent along with the rest of the country. Nagaland actually developed at a faster pace than the rest of the north east hill states. Unlike today, during those years, Nagaland received funds only for basic requirements and infrastructural development. The Naga political issue remained unresolved but there was peace and progress. People did not have the ‘fear psychosis’ and were happy in looking and moving forward along with the rest of the country.
Stepping into the 21st century, the unresolved Naga political issue was brought to the forefront and ‘Unity’ became the state motto. People of Nagaland actually took the ‘Unity’ motto at face value and got thoroughly fooled because ‘unity’ only became an excuse – a tool – to form an unholy and undemocratic ‘all party’ or ‘oppositionless government’ in the name of ‘solution’ to the Naga political issue.
The nature of the ‘oppositionless government’ was abused to strengthen the ‘equi-closeness policy’ thereby indirectly legitimising the formation of more and more splinter Naga political groups and compounding the misery of the common people. No wonder, meaningful development by the state government never happened as all resources were wasted pandering to the vested personal interests of 60 ruling legislators of the oppositionless government.
Thus, without any opposition voice in the state assembly, all the voices of reason from the outside by concerned citizens and civil society organisations became hollow and meaningless. Can the people of Nagaland afford to go back to square one and welcome yet another ‘all party, oppositionless government’? Thank God for small mercies and all thanks to the Eastern Naga people for saving Nagaland by denying the ruling dispensation an obscene majority by giving only 9 out of the 20 seats to the NDPP-BJP alliance. The idea of the ruling alliance to literally put all its eggs in the Eastern Nagaland basket with the intention of forming a brute majority government if not an oppositionless government has been stalled atleast for the moment. The NDPP-BJP alliance, however, might take undue advantage of the desire and willingness of all the other parties to join the NDPP-BJP led government to form yet another oppositionless, all party government.
This eventuality will be nothing short of a tragedy for the people of Nagaland because, in the first place, a democratic government without an opposition is not ‘Unity’, but simply, ‘a creating of the correct environment’ for the making of a dictator. People of Nagaland have already experienced, first hand, the much vaulted ‘peace’ and ‘unity’ as advocated by the NDPP-BJP led oppositionless government since 2013. It bankrupted the government, robbed the people of their dignity, morality, employment, investment and livelihoods. So much possibilities of gainful employment to thousands of unemployed youths in the micro, small and medium enterprises had been negated due to the most unfavorable investment environment in Nagaland and which the oppositionless all party government led by NDPP-BJP had justified it all as for ‘peace’. This is not the brand of ‘peace’ and ‘unity’ which the people had bargained for.
People of Nagaland have voted for a strong opposition in the assembly and the mandate of the people should be respected. Deputy Chief Minister, Y Patton, had publicly stated, in the presence of Union minister, John Barla, and BJP national spokesperson, Nalin Kholi, that there was no room for any other political party except the NDPP-BJP arrangement which will form the government. Dy. CM Patton might let political exigency allow him to eat his own words but it will only do him and his BJP party well to respect the mandate of the people.
Benito Z Swu