New Delhi/Dimapur
“First method of estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has
around him.”
— Niccolo Machiavelli
The Congress party is perhaps no longer the same political outfit that took Nagaland by storm for decades.
Of course it is the party that gave stalwarts Hokishe Sema, S C Jamir and even party hoppers J B Jasokie, K L Chishi, Chingwang Konyak, T A Ngullie and so on !
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| Stalwart Hokishe Sema with Rajiv Gandhi |
But in the ensuing assembly polls, the scene refuses to be the same. Today, Congress is almost regarded a signboard party. "We do not have enough funds....even high command does not have," lamented a key Congress leader.
Nagaland Page - Link
In 2023 polls thus the focus is on old war-horse K L Chishi, who is set to contest probably one of the last electoral battles of his chequered career from Atouizu. "You are right it was Atouizu which made me what I am today...," comes a cryptic remark from the former Chief Minister.
In 2018, he had lost from Atouizu -- owing to multiple factors inspired from Kohima -- but on the BJP ticket. In 2019, a fighter that he is, he returned to Congress fold and contested Lok Sabha polls.
Now in the run up to the 2023 polls, the Congress party does not know whether it will field five candidates or 15 or even 60.
There are of course signboard parties around. Before we go into those -- it may be worth discussing briefly that some parties such as AAP (man of the match in Punjab) and Trinamool Congress (cash-rich corruption-hit outfit in West Bengal) could come at the last moment.
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| K L Chishi with blogger |
"Some old war horses but mostly disgruntled ones are hopping between Shillong, Kolkata and Delhi....If they promise to change the fate of Nagas, they must be depending a lot on fate and money," said a BJP leader.
How 'fate' changes? Once, the BJP was an easy pushover. Today it has 12 MLAs. But thanks to their friends in Kohima's corridors of power -- the saffron party is reconciling almost to reduce its strength to less than four!
Chingwang Konyak will be smiling somewhere in Mon district and if confronted by any BJP tycoon, he could easily
say - "There is nothing in my hands, there is nothing in underdeveloped Mon. Everything happens accord to wishes
from Kohima".
The satire may not be over. If 'fate' bans Chinese guns and Indian currencies - the 'Kohima players' will be
reduced to single digit as well. Politics is always full of miracles. Chingwang can smile again and say - "I mean, I told
you all these".
Nevertheless, the polity is generally dependent on good old saying - nothing is permanent except change.
Veteran Shurhozelie is also an experienced regionalist. Whether he is ready to allow NPF to turn into a signboard party too in 2023? He is also a victim of 'neo-loyalists' --- and the crying gang of G-21 is again reportedly protesting in their new home.
A few regionalist colleagues visible in the scene are presumably too weak, lacking the fighting instinct and also too close to 'Kohima's corridors of power'. We have two names from Phek district as of now who could try to play havoc in regional politics. But the so-called 'balance of power' is obviously not in their hands.
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| Shurhozelie, T A Ngullie, Vamuzo : From Right to Left |
Will NPF go the Congress way? Because here too the theme song is 'who will provide us funds' ! The money from Bara Bosti does not travel outside.
There are other genuinely signboard parties - the Janata Dal (U) and RPP. The latter still has a leader - son of a former Congressman and a press release activist. For JD-U the shocker was G Kaito's defection four-five years back. Nitish Kumar visited the state recently but his dreams are about 2014.
NPP is also a political force but Tura hills and idyllic Shillong have made life tougher for Meghalaya Chief
Minister. His party was humbled in Manipur and so Conrad Sangma's theme song could be 'around' the Indian money -- with or without
snap of Hindu Goddess Laxmi.
In 2018 assembly polls in Nagaland, the smaller and not so small parties vote share was thus: --
- NPP - 6.9 percent and could win 2 seats, JD(U)) - 4.5 percent - one seat, Independents - 4.3 percent and one seat,
Congress - 2.1 out of 18 seats it contested and scored zero. In the process it lost 8 MLAs it had won in
2013 and NCP vote share was 1.1 and it too failed to open an account.
The Aam Aadmi Party and Lok Janshakti Party also contested in 2018 but the vote share was less than one percent.
But the importance does not lie in winning many seats. All those smaller parties simply had to
plunge into the realistic politics of 'Kohima power politics' and could easily become ministers and so on.
In Odisha there is a joke. Most new and large cars are seen in front of Congress Bhavan and ironically
many of those cars belong to Congress people who contested and lost elections and even lost deposits.
Why then should there be any widespread feeling of gloom in Nagaland ?
One may face defeat in polls, but one could grow rich. It's time to figure out what works.
ends
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