Dr Asangba Tzudir
The expectation of something different in the 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly, and the hope for opposition in the Assembly was rather met with unexpected turn of events at least to the general public, which saw an increase in the number of Deputy Chief Minister. Sadly, the 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly will not have any opposition for the second time in a row with the other political parties coming to extend their support to the Rio-led NDPP-BJP Alliance government. This is a testament that politics in Nagaland is simply about power and its associated privileges. The opposition is in a position of power to keep a check on the ‘functioning’ of the government but sadly, the power of the opposition finds sacrificed at the altar of the so called ‘ruling power’ and ‘privileges.’
In the face of the changing times, certain things that prevent dynamism, reforms, and change, needs to be unshackled so as to create room for real and positive changes. As Mark Twain once said, “if you are on the side of the majority, think it is time to reform.” In fact, in order to reform, there is need for a rebirth, and a pressing one in the face of another NDPP-BJP alliance double-engine opposition-less government for another term.
According to a popular presentation, by the time an eagle reaches the age of 30 or so, its physical condition has deteriorated to such an extent that survival becomes difficult. Its talons lose their flexibility and cannot properly grip its prey, its beak becomes blunt and bent, and its wing feathers grow thick and heavy, sticking to its chest and hampering its flight. It is then, the eagle needs to make a hard decision, wherein it is confronted by two options – die, or go through a painful process of change lasting about five months. The process requires that the eagle fly to a mountaintop. There the eagle knocks its beak against a rock until it plucks it out. Afterward the eagle will wait for a new beak to grow back, and then it will pluck out its talons. When its new talons grow back, the eagle starts plucking its feathers. Once the new feathers grow the eagle takes its famous flight of rebirth and lives for another 30 or 40 years more.
The above presentation is considered a myth. The idea that eagles, or any other animals, undergo a process of rebirth in order to extend their lifespan is not supported by scientific evidence. However, in context, the 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly is in need of such a rebirth in order to move forward. That, in order to move forward and develop, the old structure must first be torn down. Like the new growth of the eagle’s beak, talons and feathers, there is need for a new system of governance, new policies of development and a new model of peace, progress and prosperity where the citizens are empowered and transformed from living a bare life to one of qualified existence.
At the heart of this rebirth is the need for an attitudinal change, the attitude to think out of the box which is integral to generating solutions and to enable getting out from the normalized syndrome.
(Dr Asangba Tzudir contributes a weekly guest editorial to The Morung Express. Comments can be emailed to [email protected])
