A critical review by the Chakhesang Thinkers' Forum of the Clean Election Campaign for the General Assembly Election held on 27th February 2018 initiated by the NBCC
The Chakhesang Thinkers’ Forum’s Executive Members met on 28th April 2018 and reviewed the Clean Election Campaign by the NBCC (Nagaland Baptist Church Council) in the Phek District. They deliberated critically whether the NBCC had achieved its target and it was worth the campaign for clean election during the recently concluded General Assembly Election on the 27th February 2018. During the threadbare critical review of the whole process of the election before, during and after the day of polling, they had discovered some very interesting facts which can act as guidelines for future clean election campaigners. Though they made a general review of the whole state of Nagaland in their deliberation, they concentrated more minutely on the elections in Phek District in which 13 (thirteen) candidates fought for 5 (five) Assembly seats. Out of which 1(one) NDPP (National Democratic Political Party) won from the Pfutsero A/C and 4 (four) NPF (Naga People Front) won from the Chozuba, Chizami, Meluri and Phek A/Cs. The people witnessed fierce contests in all the constituencies causing serious frictions especially in the Chizami A/C between the NPF and BJP in which the latter lost to the former. The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) brought up allegations against the Baptist Church saying that it had taken sides with the NPF during the election campaigns against the BJP candidate by propagating a false propaganda that it was anti-Christians and anti-minority which were flatly denied by the former. The contentious situations and acrimony refused to die early and persisted for quite some time even after the results were declared.
Basing on the above background, the Forum had assessed the NBCC Campaign for Clean Election, and, in its opinion, it had achieved remarkable success in some areas but miserably failed in other critical areas where its influence was hardly felt. Some of their findings are being listed under the following heads:
i) PROCESSIONS: It was customary for various rival political parties to take out processions often as a show of strength and solidarity. During such period, very often group violence occurred, causing injuries to both the part-takers and spectators. Last time there were no large scale processions and violent group confrontations were absent. The crowd behaviour was more orderly and peaceful.
ii) YOUTH CAMP: Setting up of a Youth Camp in every village and colony, if not more, was in vogue. It became the centre of many nefarious activities and the nerve centre for hatching all kinds of conspiracies against their opponents. In fact, it served as a war cabinet for the contesting candidates. The Forum was delighted to note that this dangerous practice was not followed last time and the youth maintained better discipline and played in a more matured and subdued manner despite provocation.
iii) LIQUOR: Abundance of free liquor fuelled all kinds of troubles during every election. Use of intoxicants by all political parties was very much there but at a reduced scale and drunkards screaming and shouting wildly causing affray, mayhem and public nuisance were not witnessed as before.
iv) VIOLENCE: Violence in some parts of Nagaland was reported especially from the Tuli A/C in Mokokchung District but, luckily, by and large, the Phek District saw violence free election last time though there were exchanges of bitter mutual recriminations between rival groups, physical violence of any kind was almost totally absent from all the 5 (five) A/Cs.
v) MONEY: Large scale use of money marked the last election and it took many forms. Almost every vote had to be purchased directly or indirectly by the contesting candidates. In addition to financing movements of supporters, every candidate was expected to personally meet voters at home with a request which usually went without saying that money exchanged hands. Despite that there were still some honest voters who voted without money but they were not many and some of them did so not out of concern for morality but just to show their affection for a particular candidate. On the whole, nobody would expect to win any election without money. The question was the quantity used last time which was estimated to be very high. Most people also thought that taking money for vote was not morally wrong. They didn’t consider it as corruption.
vi) PUBLIC WELFARE: Nobody talked about public welfare during the campaign. There were no public demand for good roads, hospitals, schools, electrifications, water supply etc from the contesting candidates nor were there complaints against presence of proxy teachers in village schools nor absence of medical staffs in various hospitals nor against the irregular supply of power and water nor against the irregular PDS (Public Distribution System) in villages. Thus, it clearly reflects their indifferent attitude towards general public welfare. Our people have become callous. So there is no wonder once elected, our representatives do not bother to carry out any public welfare activity. That will not occupy any priority in their scheme of things for the next 5 (five) years. Nor can the public hold them accountable for failure when there will be absence of any public development since they were not raised during their election campaigns. A few public meetings conducted by the candidates were strategically done with a view to assess their position and not for giving public promises on any issue which appeared to be abnormal but not surprising when we understood what the general public priorities were. This was a major shift from traditional politics and elections.
vii) PERSONAL: The last election campaign was so personal oriented. But it was not focused on his quality as a person or his candidature. He was expected to meet the voters at home personally where he would appeal for support and bargain. Once the bargain was struck, payment was made either in kind or cash. The Forum observed that door to door campaign was a curse through which the contesting candidates were forced to distribute money and other inducements/allurements for votes. Sometimes they did it through their canvassers also. This practice was found to be a bane against the clean election campaign and the most notorious channel through which the process of corruption was completed usually with blessings from the bribed family sanctified by a Christian prayer.
CONCLUSION: The Chakhesang Thinkers’ Forum has opined that if some of the Naga traditional virtues of social controls, namely, social shame, taboo and fear can be revived somehow; the present trend of corrupt electoral practices might be arrested or even kept under reasonable control. Today, these traditional virtues are found to be absent from the social consciousness and minds of our people thereby releasing the bestiality and the anti-social elements of the beast in man to operate freely unfettered preying upon the weaker section of our society. In the instant case, the weaker one is the politician. Acting meekly and lowly during every election, the contesting candidates come begging for votes for their future glory and opulence which they don’t enjoy at the moment. There is no wonder that when the electorates rob and humiliate their future representatives during the process of election, the successful candidates will never feel grateful to them for obvious reasons. Rather, they will feel enraged and a desire for revenge and resentment will grow in their heart. Once elected, they will keep a distance from their constituency and those contemptibly obnoxious people who didn’t love them or their leadership but banked on pestering and exploiting them materially on every pretext during the election. Thus, there is no love lost between them.
Their relationship remains sour. A feeling of estrangement has already been so created and the gap grows wider till the next election where the two sides meet again in the political arena like the Roman gladiators not as friends but perhaps as alienated ones or friendly foes. The electorates will get ready to take another fresh pound of flesh and their milking cows will appear before them apparently submissive and tame though their ego will warn them otherwise. So the plot for the next drama is set. For the next few months, the will try to act well, putting on all pretensions for hospitality, generosity, kind-heartedness, gentleness, you name it, they have them all, just to get themselves re-elected again. This vicious cycle goes on unabated indefinitely. Perhaps that is why we have the kind of government we have. After all, people get the government they deserve and vice versa. Although it will not be easy to follow the rules for clean election, we cannot follow a corrupt means to elect a virtuous public leader of any standing. The means we adopt will decide the kind of leaders we desire to have. Therefore, we must try to adopt a flawless means to elect a good leader. If the electorates are corrupt, they cannot be expected to elect good representatives. They will vote for their own kind. Hence it is imperative that both the electorates and the candidates are free from corruption if they want to have a free and fair election and elect public leaders of quality. Short of that any attempt at clean election may not succeed even in future. Their good intention may also be hijacked and sabotaged by agents provocateurs at various levels like the one faced by the NBCC last time.
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