Nagaland should now aim for better leadership & stronger democracy
The hide and seek between mirage and reality has just begun.
New Delhi
The gullibility is alive and kicking. Middle Class fantasies
mean craze for easy money, credit cards, bad loans, bluffs etc etc.
The past experience should teach that another set of new opportunities would come hopefully; and these should not be wasted.
The past crisis should lead the common people and civil societies to eradicate all past menaces - the love for easy money being a foremost challenge.
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| 91-year-old Veteran Jamir and blogger |
On a different plane, just as there's some progress in terms of Naga peace talks, even those who longed for Solution have gone silent.
They probably wonder what they will do henceforth now that Solution is round the corner.
The entire narrative need not be a joke. There is skepticism.
I teased one social worker -- Solution will make some politicians and social activists like you jobless.
He had a good laugh like any spirited Naga. The time of our telephonic talk was evening.
He could have been highly spirited even otherwise.
I spent the next morning expecting a call from him. There was none. With such friends one wonderful thing is they 'forget' previous evening discussions and also agony and the self-created reasons for those agonies pretty fast.
But there were other calls. One of them wanted to know what Nagaland should aim for next.
Of course he also knows Peace, Solution and Development are well known stuff and are interlinked.
My plea would be that Nagaland should next aim for a stronger democracy and a better leadership. This is not a commentary on the Rio regime alone. The 'opposition-less' dispensation should gracefully pave the path for an interim arrangement or smooth transition.
The two-day assembly session beginning Sept 20, Tuesday, gives them the golden opportunity to make lucid speeches and rededicate themselves to the purpose of rebuilding the state.
My other emphasis is on the need to look for a qualitative transformation in leadership.
Old leaders and their styles were good; but it is time new models are tried.
The Modi government and the Governor's office owe it as their utmost responsibility to inspire structural transformations. Senior Church leader Rev Dr Zelhou Keyho told me last month at Kohima that the craze amongst people and leaders is "not to change the system...but the real struggle seems is only to be part of the system"
If Nagaland had a bad experience with corruption and non-performance, it is also due to existing policy limitations and structures of governance.
We should not see the repeat of the old exercise and culture.
One local businessman in Kohima was upset about many things last month. But the singular thing that struck me the most when he said -- "ami khan-ei blame lobo lagey (We people are also to be blamed)".
"The whole society is complicit in the fraud and mutual glorification of corruption. Extortion could not stop people from giving up their greed and fantasies," he said. "Everyone went for LCDs, ACs and bigger cars; and if there was no money; there were loans, bank credit cards and ultimately corruption and cheating," he said in a pensive tone.
In other words, the problem was societal. You cannot blame Neiphiu Rio and NDPP or other ministers alone.
With the Solution, probably there could be a change. But the fear is only the 'Driver' might change.
What about the car?
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| Rev Keyho: NBCC gen secretary |
Therefore the new regime and other stakeholders like the Modi government and social bodies including NBCC leadership should look for some necessary changes in the 'Car' itself. Idealism is always good to start fresh.
Kitovis and their associates could emerge as men and women of the moment if Solution comes and all that happens.
But the onus is on them to take true democracy and governance to the next level.
These are tough calls and much easier said than done.
During the 2008 global economic crisis, the Americans realised that in general they had 'consumed' more than they produced or earned. Obviously borrowings and innovative loans and bank assistance provided the rest, and hence came the crises.
Nagaland as a state too experienced such a thing for a pretty long time. There is no running away from soul searching.
The people are at the heart of a crisis and they would be expecting miracles from the post-Solution new government and new authorities. But such miracles would depend on the mutual mite, discipline and tightening of belts, that is austerity measures.
The last important message is that elected leaders should keep their words. And everytime elected leaders fulfil their promises, it will be the common people who will win far more than the neta class.
ends
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