Moa Jamir
In the second cabinet rejig since coming to power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union Council of ministers last week inducted 19 new faces while dropping five ministers and swapping key portfolio.
While the exercise was seen as a calculative move aimed at the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly election in 2017, it was also seen as a clear signal to respective ministries that their performance is closely observed and measured; and accordingly, ministers are promoted, shunted out or demoted. In a coalition government, such expansion is seen as a compulsion of coalition politics and nothing new.
However, in the case of Nagaland, under a unique experiment called ‘opposition-less’ government since last year, such exercise of selecting those at the helms of affairs under the yardstick of profundity, capacity and capability seem to be a far cry.
The formal opposition in Nagaland ceased to exist last year in May when the Chief Minister expanded his ministry by inducting six of the eight Congress MLAs into Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) government.
In such a scenario, we have 12 Cabinet Ministers, which include the Chief Minister himself, 24 Parliamentary Secretaries holding different posts and few advisors at the rank of cabinet from the 60-member strength of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly It has led to allegation by an organisation recent times that the “Oversized ministry in Nagaland (is) leading to misuse and drainage of public money.” It has also resulted in demand from Aam Admi Party (AAP) to the Election Commission for disqualification of 130 legislators holding the post of Parliamentary Secretary in eleven States, including Nagaland, raising a storm in the media over the legality of the issue.
AAP had demanded the same benchmark after the President of India denied assent to a bill passed in the Delhi Assembly to ratify the appointment of 21 MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries. Since then, the Party claimed that these posts clearly come under the purview of ‘Office of Profit’ under Article 191(1)(a) of the Constitution, which merits their disqualification as MLAs since they are being provided facilities such as cars, bungalows, fat salaries, police escort and status that is akin to a minister.
While the matter is due for hearing by the Election Commission on July 14 and a legal expert told The Morung Express last week that Nagaland is outside the purview of the legislation, the issue is being watched with active interest from all quarters.
Legal question or precedence apart, the bigger question is whether a big government and multiple Parliamentary Secretaries have brought about any positive improvement in governance and changes at ground level in Nagaland.
And secondly, can a Chief Minister in Nagaland afford to undertake such an exercise thereby demanding accountability and performance from concerned ministry or department? Given the complex political situation the state is endowed with, taking into account regional and inter-tribal calculation as well as infighting within the party, even conjuring such a scenario seems like an impossible task.
A hapless endowment and a sorry state of affairs, with no possible solution in sight.
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