NPCC versus NPF

The ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF) and the Opposition Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) are the two primary political parties in the State of Nagaland. It is almost like a two party system which we have ever since democratic elections started after Statehood. The names may have changed but the trend has always been two parties dominating the political landscape in Nagaland. Therefore it has mostly been the national party Congress and the regional party on the opposite side. We can compare this to the two party system of the American and British political system. Nagaland is more akin to the two party system of the west rather than the multi-party system that is found in mainstream India. Naturally therefore with only two major parties operating, there is bound to be greater polarization or in other words, the political divide will be sharper. And since each party has its main objective of coming to power, the stakes will be high and so will be the level of acrimony in the political discourse. Coming therefore to the present war of words between the NPF and the Congress on the sensitive Naga political issue, it is clear that both have different stands on a range of issues. And it is important to respect each other’s political position because the two parties are different. Just because the Nagaland Congress has its own position on integration does not give the NPF the right to call them anti-Nagas. Similarly the NPCC should respect the NPF’s present initiative to expand its party base beyond Nagaland. The NPF is also a party in its own rights and contesting elections in Manipur or Arunachal Pradesh does not make them ‘anti-Nagas of Nagaland’. The end i.e. a peaceful political settlement, unity or even integration is the same for both parties. The only dissimilarity of the NPF and NPCC is on the means to achieve the end. And that is the good thing about democracy, people will vote for the NPF or NPCC based on the programmes and manifesto presented during the time of election. No two parties will be the same in the current Naga political discourse. That does not make someone a greater or lesser Naga.
However having said that it was accepted by all concerned that the current Naga imbroglio arising out of the unresolved political problem was too important an issue to be left exposed in the rough and tumble of party politics. And listening to the voice of the people, both the NPF and NPCC buried their differences to come together under the Joint Legislators Forum (JLF) and publicly declared the Naga political issue as “above party politics”. Every section of Naga society had welcomed this decision of the two main political parties. Some important resolutions were also made jointly by the JLF to reaffirm the need for a common approach on the ‘divisive’ Naga political problem. The worry now is whether the JLF will survive the latest acrimony between the NPF and NPCC arising out of the recent bye-poll election campaign and its aftermath. The question that is important to address at this point of time is not about who is to be blamed for breaking the ‘covenant’ of the JLF but what can be done to ensure that this does not happen again or in other words making sure that the two parties do not play to the gallery or use the Naga issue to score brownie political points. As already suggested in this column, with another round of Assembly Elections in 2013, the JLF under the initiative of the Speaker and in consultation with the parties must come out with a set of dos and don’ts so as to ensure that politics is kept away from the sensitive Naga issue.