There is no divine right in democracy.
The statement has a special significance in today's polity. Likes of Thuingaleng Muivah may believe in the power of guns and whimsical idea of selling dreams. The Cock merchants of Kohima presumably believe Money and Bolero power can win over everyone.
In a democracy, power flows from the citizens who elect their representatives. In Nagaland context; of course an overwhelming sections of voters take elections as Festival time where youths to housewives everyone may get pocket money.
Ask Pughoboto contestants - the amounts they had to handle was huge.
 |
| As bold and bald as Neiphiu Rio : Luck is lost midways |
Most elected MLAs are not spineless. What has gone short is only the currency at home and even in law's lands etc are unable to make up the debts.
The divine right theory granted a monarch absolute, unchallengeable power. In the Congress; Rahul Gandhi is a striking example. He lost as many as three elections - but he is still the boss with no accountability.
In Ramayana - the helpless king had to bow before people's wish. The Congress version of all theories and theology is different.
Certain things and processes in India are "natural" . They are also orderly and could be bubbling with the excitement of many ambitions. During coalition era in the 1990s, virtually every political party had its own candidate for prime minister. For sometime even Lalu Prasad was one such.
That era produced the Naga Caaesefire and peace parleys in 1997 and the country and helpless Naga people are paying a price for that.
Now - let us twist the debate while trying to keep it on the track.
Three dates keep haunting me.
The third one being Oct 22, 2025. The first two were March 5, 1995 and Dec 4, 2021.
Many hearts are beating more quietly, including within the BJP and NPF both in Nagaland and Manipur.
The principal theme being - nobody really has a short cut to the Solution to some of the complex questions.
As far the insurgency goes; the military treatment of the malady has been that the only language the ultras understand is hardcore counter-terrorism. The other side also plays havoc. Otherwise, what do they gain by planting bombs in a public cinema hall at Kohima. That explosion had left my senior journalist friend Lelie Legisie maimed.
The state capital Kohima has had no public cinema hall since then. Congress MP and his mentor (regionalists) want an airport at Kohima or in the northern hills but Mr Supongmeren Jamir may not be worried why life comes to a stand still in the state capital by 5 pm or so.
The tourism - the Rio-led dispensation seems to know is only the 10-day extravaganza in December. Rest of the year what the Home department and state police want to be engaged --
Enforce Inner Line Permit ... embarrass that helpless rickshawallah and link the poor man's ability to pay such a paltry amount to Naga pride.
Very next day - the chief minster and BJP ministers included in the same flight would rush to Delhi with project reports and covering letter -- "I beg to state ....".
The 'proudness' has already done a vanishing act.
 |
| Duckout in Cricket lingo means 'Zero' |
Now the dates = Dec 4, 2021. Oting had happened. I visited the ill-fated village first in April 2023. The village council chairman Longwang said -
"Raasta beya asey, kopal toh besi beya asey",
Some soldiers I interacted at Oting in April 2023 told me in private -- "The directives to us from the Defence ministry and Army headquarters are clear, even a single instance of human rights violation is totally unacceptable.
Oting was a really bad thing to happen. If villagers lament it as a nightmare, for the forces the agony was deep. A few Assam Rifles jawans wept that night trying to conceal their emotion from senior officers."
But more importantly, it was not for the first time such a bungled operation took place in the northeast. In Nagaland itself, another such 'Black Day' was March 5th, 1995.
S.C. Jamir was the Chief Minister and the incumbent state Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio - was then a dutiful and a trusted lieutenant of Jamir and part of the same cabinet taking care of the Works and Housing ministry.
The March 5th, 1995 incident had claimed eight lives, including few youngsters, when Rashtriya Rifles returning from election duty in Manipur went berserk in the southern part of Kohima mistaking a "tyre burst" to an ambush.
This blogger (often called non-serious by Rio's admirers in Kohima intellectuals club) was inside AIR, Kohima, newsroom that fateful day and made a miraculous escape.
We were four in that room when bombs flew over the small tinned building we were in. I was accompanied by a Lotha Naga news reader, Jonas Yanthan, one Keralite AIR staffer Josan (still alive and kicking in Kerala and cursing me and Narendra Modi on a daily basis) and two Kuki gentlemen.
We had taken shelter under a table. The fear of death had united four people from different socio-political and linguistic backgrounds. Needless to add, we were shivering.
Come to Oct 22nd, 2025 - Muivah has declared no one is afraid if violence is rekindled. He has not said so in many words nevertheless.
But there was no reconciliation tone. Nagas of Nagaland were not surprised. That's also being practical in some ways. But this also shows they have given up all hopes about Solution. Only a day before they remained silent in real sense as the Cock was crowing - I am the toughest regionalist. I am also the richest.
Who can dare?
But there was apparent apprehension. The fact that Amit Shah had remained silent on the idea of NDPP-NPF merger has still kept some hopes among some leaders within the assembly and outside.
It is a mix of two things -- "Dar sab ko lagta hain"... as that popular commercial ad goes. And the other one is Nagaland's own creation and creditably so --
"Na jaane ho".
Among all - only whimsical politician who still follows his instinct is Kewephape Therie. Other than him we do not find political elements among Nagas.
Rio and his love affair with BJP -- inspired by the logic of Ram Madhav and Nalin Kohli - is that in Nagaland --- we often get to hear --
"Only thing that matters in Naga politics is profit".
Ambani brothers grew up saying that; but they were told to apply that in business.
Rio too is a son of a businessman. But Rio is also a student of Sano Vamuzo - the most political lady wife of former chief ministers I knew.
 |
| Oting Villagers - April 2023 |
Coming back to March 5, 1995 bombing -- my aging parents had summoned me then back home in West Bengal but the bigger tragedy was elsewhere.
The native Nagas remained clueless for days not knowing what was stored in their fate in the name of combing operation and retaliatory violence.
Area near Midland opposite Cemetery were raided in next few days to find the wrongdoers.
Two journalists (non-Nagas) belonging to the PTI and UNI later had to leave/flee state capital Kohima permanently and the then Deputy Commissioner Kohima, dynamic L.V. Reddy was killed a few days later.
Reddy could have survived if one of the stalwarts of Naga people did not issue such orders.
A dashing personality, IAS officer Reddy's fault line was - he was quoted in the agency dispatches about the retaliatory shooting. One of the journalists - and a friend Ankur Borbora - later went missing mysteriously either from Sikkim or Kolkata.
In my book "The Talking Guns: North East India", published in 2008, I had written: "The tension was palpable as reports suggested that Nagas would avenge this 'Indian insult' from non-Nagas and conflicting media reports only added fuel to fire."
Come to circa 2021, my point was the gory episode should have been avoided. In today's social-media hyped world, how did forces and the personnel believe that their actions and misadventure would go unrecorded?
But nowhere since then any lesson has been learnt. Muivah has threatened to resume armed struggle if the Centre did not follow in letter and spirit the Amsterdam Joint Communique and the Framework Agreement 2015.
The BJP government or for that matter any government cannot give away Flag and a separate Naga Constitution.
We - who had thought Solution pact could bring a lasting peace - are left as losers. One should have backed the Status quo club and enjoy the hospitality !
I remember visiting a rural house in Mon district. There was power cut. On the walls -- our shadows flickered in the light of the candle.
Shadows knew the end was nearby.
My host was telling an old fable of his time. The country liquor and smoked pork pieces were on the platter.
In the end he said - the moral of my story is -- Insurgency and Indian army have brought enough destruction. More will come soon. But it is we - the common people - who are greedy about worldly things and have set wrong priorities and hence we have destroyed the old values and liberal culture.
His eyes were moist. I remembered a sentence from a Kannad fiction -- the sensation of dryness caused the tear glands to produce an overflow of tears.
ends
 |
| Old Oting church |
No comments:
Post a Comment