Z. Lohe
Being 1982 batch, I am not well versed with how regional political party or parties was/were established since the inception of Nagaland Statehood. I came to understand how the erstwhile UDF/NNDP managed to brainwash the voters of how indispensable and distinct the NNDP was from Congress party in view of Naga political aspiration, and how voters would become anti-Naga Independence when one voted for a national party like Congress only when I contested on Congress ticket in 1987 in the bastion of the regional party. Throughout extensive campaigns in that election, I hardly had time to talk about other public welfare related matters as I discovered all those issues were secondary to voters except Naga National Movement and its Independence. Maximum time of the campaigns was thus wasted on the explanations on how similar were all the registered political parties under Election Commission of India and God helped me to break the ice of winning a seat for Indian National Congress in that election.
In those days, I was not aware that the old regional party, UDF, had partnered with the then Janata party since 1977 which was later changed to BJP. Whereas, this regional party was allowed to enjoy the confidence of the people of the State in the belief that it was pro-Naga sovereignty without contamination. And that political marriage since 40 years ago was just divulged perhaps out of circumstances during the NPF’s wrangles last year. That being the background, NPF had conveniently spent 15 years in marriage with BJP in power. To face the last election, NPF tried its best to continue the relationship with BJP and yet the latter rejected the offer and opted for greener pasture offered by NDPP.
The NDPP allowed BJP to contest in not less than 20 constituencies and it managed to win 12 seats which was a great success. This has indicated that had BJP been given more seats to contest, it would have fetched bigger number of MLAs than what its partner NDPP managed to bring to their kitty.
Neiphiu Rio, the honorable Chief Minister is known for his dexterity in matters of formation of his cabinet and allocation of portfolios as proved in the last three successive ministries. However, surprisingly he took not less than solid 4 days to finalize the portfolio allocations this time. When much speculation was rift during that brief-long time of 4 days, Nagaland Page headlined in its front page that Rio was bullied by BJP. The paper comment was wrong or right is better known to wearers, and yet the size of BJP cabinet in PDA has partially proved it. Had Rio in particular and NDPP in general been bullied by its mentor, he or the party had asked for it and such treatment was perhaps warranted. Mathematically speaking, PDA is a coalition ministry led by NDPP. Nevertheless, BJP dominates the State Cabinet and therefore PDA is practically a BJP led govt. In other words, Nagaland is now under the rule of BJP whether one like to believe it or not.
I have been sharing my conviction with the esteem readers through the magnanimity of local papers as to why Nagaland should not be allowed to be contaminated by idolatry under the garb of politics, developments or religion. Yet, today our own leaders and our own Church members have paved way for polarization. Therefore, I cannot blame the top brasses of BJP and the Hindutva activists and their activities in our land when Nagaland based regional political parties have become sycophantic and too submissive.
These being the ground realities, there is no more regional party in Nagaland as each of these parties, be it NPF or be it NDPP, has fallen short of the quintessence of a true regionalism. Senior Thepfulhouvi Solo therefore used a caption in one of his articles “The Congress may be the only regional party in Nagaland?” sounds relevant. These two parties, NPF and NDPP in particular are indeed national in deed and regional in nomenclature variegated with stripes of Hindutva. No matter how much one claims to be a regional party, it has diluted its sanctity. BJP is saffron colored and NPF and NDPP are equally colored in saffron. In fact, these two regional parties are responsible for the advantages given to Hindutva elements to make inroads into the Christian domain in Nagaland. The negative trend is infesting adulterated cultures on Christian community through the manipulative rhetoric of pseudo regionalism is the indirect abetment of RSS invasion into our land.
No matter how gullible regional parties may not like to do things against the sentiment of their people, a regional party is bulldozed when partnered with national party particularly BJP. The stark example is how the coalition BJP Govt. in Manipur has towed the line of RSS in removing Good Friday from Govt.’s calendar to which NPF is a partner. The BJP was enabled to form its ministry with just 22 MLAs out of 60 by 4 NPF MLAs along with few other non-Congress MLAs. Ignoring the presence of 41.8% Christians in Manipur State, BJP Govt. in Manipur has the audacity to take such anti-Christian decision on altering the history. The NPF is therefore equally responsible for anti-Christian stance adopted by BJP in Manipur. The other question is whether NPF endorses the assertion of N. Biren Singh, CM of Manipur who stated that “North East (that includes Nagaland) was part of India since the Dwapar Yug”. Mind you, Nagaland was not created out of Hindu mythology. It is for the people of Nagaland to watch as to whether the parent party of NPF in Nagaland will uphold double standard policy by remaining silent and keeping the relationship with BJP in status quo. This question is warranted for the fact that NPF and BJP are partners in Manipur and the severing of ties with BJP announced during Dr. Shurhozelie’s ministry was consequently reviewed. It is therefore found that today’s regional parties are found to be simply adulterated and thus do not worth its names.
At this rate, no regional party in Nagaland is found to remain robust enough to uphold its true and distinct regional identity as it always prefers to become a minion to a powerful national party ruling at the Centre. My belief and conservatively speaking, even though we do not make ourselves so sycophantically subservient to a ruling party at the Centre, if we can prove our flair and trustworthiness in governance, we deserve to get due treatment as a Unit under the Union Govt. headed by any party. It is also imperative to observe the attitude of the Union Govt. as to whether Nagaland is regarded with due respect or regarded as busybody. As a people, we may not necessarily feel helpless as though we have no better options if at all we are not wanted in the Union.
