Bonnie Konyak
Dimapur | October 23
Taking the wind out of his opponents’ sails, Additional Chief Secretary and Commissioner, Nagaland, TN Mannen today disclosed that he has already given in his notice for voluntary retirement last month and the government should be relieving him from duties around next month. The senior IAS officer from the 1976 batch is officially set to retire only in December 2009. In an exclusive interview with The Morung Express at his Dimapur residence, Mannen said that he had been quite embarrassed by Sunday’s incident at his native village where his and NPF general secretary-spokesperson, Akang’s supporters had come to blows.
Referring to the allegations by supporters of Akang that the Commissioner was delaying his resignation to take advantage of his chair, Mannen said that the accusers should point out where and how he had taken advantage of his position. Having not been officially relieved of his duties, Mannen said that he could not publicly declare himself but added that nobody could stop him from attending public meetings. Nagaland Commissioner Mannen disclosed that the Longjang Village Council had approached him with the proposal to stand in the coming elections as the village candidate after the death of his brother Ayuh, who was a former MLA and when he had replied that he was not averse to the idea of entering politics, the village council had decided to let this dream be ‘translated into reality’. Thus Mannen said that he had received the blessing of the council to contest the coming election and since then he has been mentally preparing himself for the elections.
The Additional Chief Secretary however refused to comment on the party he wished to contest in, stating that he could not do so at the moment. However he was of the opinion that politics in the case of Nagaland was not based much on party ideologies. He said that politics in Nagaland was more subjective having more to do with the relationship of the candidate with his people and his reputation in the village than the party he is contesting from. In this backdrop, Mannen said that the best approach for an intending candidate would be through the village council and the village level instead of talking from “up there”. Interesting Mannen disclosed that the NPF general secretary-spokesperson, Akang had given up his intention to contest the coming assembly elections a few months earlier. The Commissioner said that Akang had even spoken to him on this change of heart in keeping with the village council’s decision but Mannen said that someone must be pushing him to rejoin the race after his earlier declaration to pull out of it.
While the Commissioner’s confidence to stand for election is influenced by the support of the village council, he took pains to point out that he did not really approve of such a ‘group voting’ where democracy was weakened by ‘closing the gate’ on other contenders. However he said that as a tribal society, the Nagas had followed this system of village administration and instinctively the same system was finding expression in modern politics.
The Nagaland Commissioner referred to Sunday’s incident as a ‘slight friction’ within the village itself on their choice of candidate and not really a matter of any party. Calling it a ‘petty issue’ and not of grave concern, he said that it was a matter between families but said that ultimately, the village would have just one candidate, himself or Akang. And having obtained the mandate of the village council, Mannen said that if the election would be a “fair game”, he had a fair chance of winning.
