Kahuto Chishi Sumi
Hevishe Village, Dimapur
I was surprised when reading KK Sema’s latest article, “Solution before Election” in our Local Dailies. The gist of the piece was to try to get the People of Nagaland to support the insidious slogan, “Solution before Election”; but the reasons given for why the people should do so were as incomprehensible as the apparent u-turn the author has taken in support of this trick, cooked up by some of our Legislators to fool the public, and to draw attention away from their innumerable failures on all fronts. Granted that the Government of India has invited the 6 NNPGs to the negotiating table, but I do not believe that KK Sema is so naive as to believe that any solution can be arrived at within the 6 months of the term of a Presidential Rule, if elections are deferred. Leaving aside the moronic antics of our Legislators, the People of Nagaland have to understand a few things:-
1. The invitation of the 6 NNPGs to talks with the GoI is ground for optimism, but no reason to believe any solution is imminent. How many times have the 6 groups met, among themselves, to find common issues in negotiating with the GoI? What did their recent meeting with some 24 Apex Bodies produce? If the 6 NNPGs have decided on Common Issues in their negotiations with India, and if the 24 Apex bodies have put forward concrete suggestions for the future of Nagaland, then maybe a time frame for the arrival to a solution can be guessed at. Till then, any solution is just a mirage.
2. Any acceptable solution will only be feasible if ALL Factions are involved. The Official involvement of the majority of the NNPG Factions is no reason to believe that anything is going to be resolved. We have seen how the NSCN was formed by those of the NNC who refused the terms of the Shillong Accord; what guarantees are there that objectors to any solution will not emerge from within the 6 NNPGs? And we have the NSCNs (I-M) and (K), the former with their solution ready at hand, and the latter with the the demand for Independence still unadulterated. If anyone believes that any solution can be arrived at without the (I-M) and (K), that person needs to be committed to the nearest Insane Asylum.
3. In Nagaland, elections are akin to gambling. People spend money to win, with the assurance that if they do win, they will be recompensed a thousandfold; just as a gambler wagers money in the hope of winning more. Many Nagas have lost Crores in money and property in the past after losing elections. The coming elections will see those who lose in the polls bidding goodbye to many crores more, why should the winners have to be recompensed, in any way, if they fail to get a seat in an “Interim Government” in the event of any solution? Is a seat in an Interim Government going to provide them a means to recovering the money they lose in an election? I that case, we don’t want any solution or any interim government that comes with it.
4. He should know better than to even mention recompensating the expenditure of victorious Legislators, in the event that they have to step down to pave way for any Interim Government. No Democracy in the World insists that Candidates have to spend money, Election Expenditure has developed in democracies over the course of the years and, win or lose, Politicians and Political Parties view it as a necessity of democracy and, “THE PRICE FOR WISHING TO SERVE YOUR NATION,” it is only in India, and especially Nagaland, that we view it as a means of getting rich. The Election Commission of India has put limits on Election Expenditure precisely so that this tendency to gamble all, in the hopes of winning and recovering and gaining more can be stopped. No one asked them to spend money, so no one is obligated to recompense them.
5. Any resignation of our Legislators, at this instant in time, is meaningless. Whether they have recovered their money or gained enough for to generations to come, is immaterial to the Naga People. We want fresh Elections, with a chance at electing fresh Representatives.
6. The People of Nagaland will mobilise when we have something to mobilise for. Solution, not election is pure hogwash. It is we Nagas who have been misleading ourselves, with abetment from India. The successive Governments of India may be blamed to some extent, but we Nagas are responsible for the mess we find ourselves in; the Indian Government cannot clean up our mess, we have to do it ourselves.
Show us a concrete and acceptable solution and we will spill blood to honour it. We will force any and all Elected Representatives to step down to make way for an Interim Government. But till that day, know that words like “Unique” and “Honour”, “Uniqueness” and “Honourable” are just words used to disguise the fact that any solution is either unacceptable or non-existent. Just as the slogan, “Solution, not Election” has been coined up, by the those who cannot suspend their greed, to cover up the fact that they have done nothing except loot us for all these years. I request the Government of India to kindly announce the scheduled elections; I can assure the Indian authorities that apart from the few Nagas in the pockets of our Politicians (the very people who are girding their loins for Elections), the People of Nagaland are overwhelmingly in favour of Elections.
“Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers” (Deuteronomy 1:35). Our Solution will not arrive until we, the Evil Generation of Nagaland have passed away, for we have forsaken The Ways of Christ and Good, and Revel in the Evils of Lucifer; so prepare for Elections till that day.
God Save Our Nagaland
