A Botoking
With much ado, without any clear consensus on the DMC issue, the people await the outcome of the struggle between the DMC Chairman V.Awomi and his opponents. With the idea of taking this matter to the people, we were quite surprised to receive the feedback from the layman. A government official who was asked to share his opinion said that the issue of accountability was not considered as important as that of the power struggle between the powers that be, as of now. “The present leaders seem to be only concerned about the power dynamics of their relationship with the common people, leaving aside any thought of understanding that they are of the people, by the people and for the people.” Another well read individual pointed out the silence maintained by the various Naga bodies such as the Naga Hoho, NPMHR and NMA on this issue except for a few who have woken up to the grim reality that their silence may set a bad precedent and wreck its consequences on the very people these organisations stand for. A surprising feedback received was that the some student leaders, feeling sidelined and neglected, couldn’t care less about the recent turn of events as they felt that their opinions were never taken seriously by the present leaders.
With politics making strange bedfellows, a peculiar conglomeration has come about - as informed by our sources -with the petition submitted to the DC consisting of DMC members cutting across party lines from both the NPF and the INC parties. Time may yet prove that both the opposing parties may stand to lose more than gain in the end.
Yet, doesn’t all this make us wonder whether the democracy we practice in Nagaland exists only on paper? Politics without any conscience or sense of accountability to the people would only harm those who prefer to pay no heed to the time tested and proven credentials of the value it carries. With Dimapur poised at the gateway to a great future, it would worth the while for our leaders to contemplate the cosmopolitan nature of this city we call Dimapur and the people who live in it. Hopefully, our present leaders will be able to bring about a conducive atmosphere to the present state of affairs and bring about a better sense of understanding of politics among the polity who they have chosen to represent.
