Apparently, the people of Nagaland have once again responded overwhelmingly with a big bang in favor of the ‘Cock Party’. Yes indeed, the NPF seems to have beaten the congress at its own game and the glory days of the Congress Party seem to be truly over. There was a time when the shadow of the Congress Party spearheaded by the Gandhi-Nehru family loomed over every nook and corner of India including the so-called north-eastern states and Nagaland. It was during the rule of the Congress party at the centre that the present state of Nagaland became the 16th state of the Indian union in 1963. And as recently mentioned by Sonia Gandhi herself during her trip to Nagaland, it was also the Congress party which gave the so-called Article 371 to the Nagas to protect the identity and uniqueness of the Nagas.
Right from becoming the 16th state of the Indian union in 1963, Nagaland also, for many years, strived as a puppet government under the overwhelming and all- encompassing shadow of the congress party.
This was the case irrespective of whether the state government of Nagaland was a Congress government or otherwise. During the times of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao, the congress party was always the party with the highest and ultimate command and the party to be reckoned with no matter whether it was in Nagaland, Assam, Kerala, Kashmir, Tamil Nadu or any other Indian state. And yes, it is worthy to be mentioned here that during the times when the Congress party was reigning supreme in India, the ‘Cock Party’ of Nagaland came into being and continued to exist despite all the overwhelming odds. And if we are to identify one person or leader with the ‘Cock Party’ of Nagaland, it would be none other than the present president of the NPF Party, Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu. Ever since Dr. Shürho entered into state politics in the late 1960s, he has remained loyal and faithful to his ‘Cock Party’ despite the changes in the nomenclature of the party. Yes, when we mention the ‘Cock Party’, the first person that comes to our mind is Dr. Shürhozelie and rightly so. This is so because Dr. Shürhozelie is a person who did not believe and practice ‘defection politics’ and he has remained totally faithful and loyal to the Cock Party despite the fact that he lived through some of the most turbulent and unpredictable times of politics in Nagaland. Therefore, he might have already retired from active politics, but the seemingly overwhelming victory secured by the Cock party in the 2013 Assembly election is a great personal victory for the so-called regional hardcore.
The ‘Cock Party’ was not able to command absolute majority in the elections of 2003 and 2008. However, it was still able to form the government on these two occasions by collaborating with some other like-minded parties and candidates. But now, the people of Nagaland apparently have reposed their absolute faith in the NPF by voting 38 of its candidates to power. And if this is really the scenario, the NPF need to work with even greater commitment, enthusiasm, accountability and transparency for the overall upliftment of all Nagas. The 2013 NPF government certainly need to carry forward some of its earlier missions which they had initiated during their two previous terms and also need to initiate new missions keeping in mind the overall interest of all Nagas. In regard to this, I myself would like to mention three things which I would want the ‘Cock Party’ to take up in its current term:
1) Firstly, the NPF leaders have already changed the nomenclature of the party from ‘Nagaland People’s Front’ to ‘Naga People’s Front’ in order to include even those Nagas living outside the state boundary of Nagaland. Subsequently, the NPF party has been launched in our neighboring states and this is a noble mission which should be continued and upholded at all cost. We talk about ‘sovereignty’ and ‘territorial integration’ but before these two, we need to have ‘emotional integration’. This is so because the different members of a family may be living in different parts of the world but what binds them together is the emotional attachment that they feel towards each other. Therefore, why just Assam, Manipur or Arunachal Pradesh, why don’t the NPF leaders launch the ‘Cock Party’ even in the Naga-inhabited areas of Myanmar?
2) Nagas are a multi-lingual society and much has been said about the need to preserve our unique and beautiful tribal languages. Our students are now even studying these tribal languages in their schools and colleges. But these language subjects are still optional and not mandatory. The result being that many students prefer to choose ‘Alternative English’ instead of their own tribal language in the schools as they are free to do so. For instance, I know many Tenyiemia students who do not study ‘Tenyiedie’ in schools and colleges. Here, I am not talking about making ‘Tenyiedie’ a compulsory subject for all Naga students. No, that would not be fair. But at least we can make the ‘Tenyiedie’ subject compulsory for all Tenyiemia students just like we can make ‘Ao-Oshi’ compulsory for all Ao students. Likewise, we can make the Sumi language and the Lotha language compulsory for all Sumi and Lotha students respectively. I think this can go a long way in making our dream of preserving our tribal languages a reality.
3) In spite of the many claims of peace, progress and development being made during the last 10-years rule of the DAN government, the fact still remains that we are still lacking far behind in some of the most vital and fundamental areas like proper water supply, regular power supply and providing good lasting roads. I believe that providing proper water, regular electricity and good roads to its citizens should be the top most priorities of any civilized modern government. Water is vital to life itself and therefore the new government should explore all possibilities to provide good healthy water to its citizens. In places like Kohima where water is available in plenty in the surrounding villages, high quality water canals can be constructed where water from these river sources can easily reach the people living in town areas. Or else the government can also connect the town areas to these water sources by using good quality and long lasting pipes. The government can also lend its helping hand in introducing the concept and practice of ‘rainwater harvesting’ to its citizens.
We live in an age where almost all the appliances we use are run by electricity. In other words, electricity literally runs our lives and therefore to provide regular power to its citizens should be at the top of any government’s agenda. But sadly, the power scenario in Nagaland seems to have deteriorated in the recent years. And as such I expect the new Nagaland government to take this as a challenge and do its best to restore the faith and confidence of the Naga public in this most essential and vital prerequisite of modern life.
The number of vehicles in our land is increasing daily but our roads are not getting any wider or longer. As such our life is only getting tenser, tighter, taxing and exhausting day by day. Hence, besides providing good roads and broad highways, the government in collaboration with the public should find the ways to loosen the traffic in our roads especially in places like Kohima and Dimapur. The government should also explore the ways and means to loosen and untie our congested roads during rush-hours in the mornings. It is also obvious that most of our roads do not last long because of the substandard materials used in the constructions. Here, the government should maintain a strict vigil on these malpractices by bringing those responsible to book. The government should also cancel the licenses of those so-called contractors and thikadars who try to make profit by using substandard materials or by misappropriating funds.
For the title of this write-up, I use the word ‘Re- Return’ and not ‘Return’ because this is not the first and only return of the ‘Cock Party’. As is known to all, the ‘Cock Party’ formed the government in 2003 in collaboration with some other parties and in 2008 also, the ‘Cock Party’ did the same. However, in 2013, the ‘Cock Party’ is in a position to form the government even without assistance from any other party or independents.
I grew up in Lower L. Khel area, Kohima Village and whenever election times came, I heard people shouting slogans in favor of the Cock Party, I saw pictures of the Cock (Vüdzü) pasted all over the roads and streets and I heard people singing about the impending victory of the ‘Cock Party’. This was how I had my earliest glimpses of the ‘Cock Party’ as far as state politics in Nagaland was concerned. And here are the lyrics of a song which I used to hear during election times when I was a small boy:
“Thevü miarhiu kuolie zotuo;
Nie dzieyha pie puo tsüshücie;
Puo kuolie ro, Mia pete rei unei phituo”
(Translated as “the Cock picture will definitely
win; give your votes to him; If he wins,
everybody will be so happy”)
And yes, the predictions of this song seem to have finally come true in 2013 A.D….
