Nikay Besa Konyak
Linguistic scholar, Nagaland University
I am not an inspirational writer. And I am certainly not trying to be a philosopher here but I am a simple scholar trying to contribute my perceptive insightabout having a better Nagaland. And it gives me an inflated sense of self importance. It was an eventful day that I came across a group of young people who were bartering quotes about ‘Clean Election’. Even though I was a not guest, I happened to join the group unintended. All of us went on denoting different quotes using our mindsets. And at the end of our discourses, we realized that all of our contributed quotes presupposed something else. It was none other the abstract concept ‘wise and honest vote’. I left the ensemble reflecting David Herbert Lawrence’s quote, “ours is an excessively conscious age. We know so much, we feel so little”. I will straight away claim that Naga’s instincts have fallen and we are victims of amorphousness. The expression of dissatisfactions; the murmurs of discontent and despair; the popularity of the word ‘corruption’; the disturbance of tranquillity; the variety of opinions; the unclear future of the emotional youths; the political leader’s excessive prescriptivism, the social leader’s over descriptivism; the religious leader’s unrealism, and the public’s flexibleness are excessively spilling. And knowing the facts, we contrived ourselves as flawless.
Today, if we look at the current sequence of events in Nagaland, we are witnessing so much of political crisis and turmoil, unemployed and over-employed problems, puzzling peace talks, scams, inter-tribal clashes, underdevelopments, agitations and many more. And of course there are also good things happening in and around however, the balance cannot be justified because the former ones weight heavier. These are indeed problems created by collective members that include you and me. With all these immeasurable chaos, Nagaland awaits the coming 2018 election and everyone ishaving a lot going on. My interrogations here are:how much are you busy? Are you busy seeking chances to sell and buy the vote? Are you busy seeking your benefits? Are you busy mastering your skills to be a proxy man? Are you busy creating an anti-election law decisions to support one candidate against the wishes of some villagers? Are you busy planning to trade your vote for the so called backdoor Government Jobs? Are you busy how to gather all your family members to vote for a particular candidate with an objective to demand handsome money? Are you busy getting ready to quench your thirst with that unholy liquid? Are you busy preparing long speeches that contain false promises? Are you busy building up your muscles to exercise your man-power? Or are you busy to be wise and honest?My interrogations are many and the page is limited but my last question asks who are you?
I believe that it’s high time for the people of Nagaland to really understand the culture of democracy. Having known the very fact that the culture of democracy allows that every individual within a society must have every right to think or do what is allowed by the laws and follow the moral code of the country, we still choose to be a betrayal of the good culture. Aren’t we have had enough of dissatisfactions, complains, and discouragements? Or are we still going to linger on this blindness? I know changes don’t happen in a minute and all the prevailing problems may not be the breed of the corrupt practices during election however, at least all the social problems are linked to it. And we can’t deny that fact. Many people claim that election malpractices have become the root cause of all evils in our society which is a striking claim. However, the real attachment to this claim is not the malpractices but the individual who creates it. Therefore, as a responsible citizen of Nagaland, I want to urge at least the readers of my write up that let’s bring a change and hold unto the bannerof ‘clean election’. You may be just a lay person, unemployed youth or an intellectual, a top leader, a daily wager, a parent or a friend but whoever you are, challenge yourself to fight for the good cause of Nagaland. I have already made up my mind that I will be wise and honest to my rights because I believe in Martin Luther’s saying that, “even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree”. I end my write up with messages to some of the most important people:
Dear future candidates, please make sure that you are qualified to be a leader.I know your prime objective is to win the election and winning an election is not an easy task. It’s of very sure that you and your party followers, workers and agents want victory and this desire will tempt all of you to adopt undesirable tactics. However, remember that Nagaland is sick and you are standing up to cure the sickness and not to worsened it. ‘Sick’ is not just a word to read so feel it.
Dear voters, who are you? You must ask yourself and define it in the best way that you will never be a victim of corruptions. Don’t let the money be your language, your rights or your ruler. I am very certain that the election money will be sweet but not for long. Let us vote with an aim that Naga’s fallen instincts will rise up and adopt good principles, policies and measures etc. Let us vote that that our land will witness fair policy without any tribal bias and controversies covering economy, education, language, culture, religion and other areas.Thank you.
