While this time round there was some suspense over whether Assembly Election in Nagaland will take place or not given the talk of a solution to the Naga issue, nevertheless, the Naga public and leaders were not perturbed by all the talk of a solution and started preparing for election as usual. Perhaps it will be correct to say that we in Nagaland have this penchant for election and making plans for selecting our candidates. And as usual people have been busy conducting the so called citizen meetings in the villages and coming out with public declaration in support of one or the other candidates. However what is a little disturbing is the inclination of a large number of government servants to enter the political fray. The Naga public especially in the villages also seems to be encouraging this phenomenon of civil servants jumping into the electoral fray. While there is nothing wrong in capable and committed people wanting to contest for public office, the manner in which this is being done, at the expense of public money, is the worrying part. Let us face it that the salary that our government officials are paid is disproportionate to the wealth and assets that some of these people have garnered. And obviously they have the resource therefore to contest elections. And the public at large are willing to blindly oblige.
The other novelty that these officials have come up with is to mislead the innocent but equally corrupt public that the development being implemented or brought to a particular area or constituency is a gift in return for votes in future. This is so wrong and the public must wake up from their stupor in order to defeat such propaganda. Let us be very clear that development is service to the people and it in no way an obligation or favour that officials are doing for the public. In fact development is taking place through government money and it is the duty of officials to implement the same. Our ignorant villagers and majority of public seem to be under the wrong impression that it is the government officials who are doing some great sacrifice and service. In fact they are employees being paid by the government and it is their duty and job to deliver development service to the people.
Earlier this year the Election Commission of India had come up with a welcome suggestion to bring in a “cooling off period” clause between leaving a government job and contesting elections. This was in the backdrop of concerns over a number of “senior civil servants” jumping into the electoral fray. As already mentioned, in Nagaland also it is a very normal thing for a bureaucrat to contest elections. A way has to be found through changes in the law so that officials remain impartial during their tenure as civil servants and take decisions with integrity while they serve. It is inappropriate for a civil servant to eye party politics when he or she is a paid employee and when your primary duty is to serve public interest without fear or favour. And so a law must be made to prevent civil servants from joining political parties in their respective states just after retiring or putting in their papers to join the battle at the hustings. As suggested a “cooling off period” clause must be brought in for those officials leaving the government job and joining a political party. This will to some extent prevent misuse of power and authority.
