"Na jaane ho ....".
- This refrain is back in Nagaland. It reflects a typical indifference but there is also some kind of nervousness.
While assessing 'public mood' of some Nagas and Naga politicians in the run up to the 'merger' of NDPP with the NPF; I get an impression that my friend sounds like a man in grief. He is perhaps neither angry nor defiant. But he laments the perceived degeneration of politics.
"I DO NOT KNOW" - said my friend.
"We have lost out something. Please do not quote me. I am giving up all these political works etc. Today, I doubt my own democracy and its power. The overall trust in Democracy is over and dwindling. Look what is happening in Nepal and even in the west," he said over phone.
I said - what you are suggesting is universal... even in the west. In the US, Donald Trump is not questioned ... and he is behaving like a dictator. He readily agreed and added that in the United Kingdom too, a recent survey revealed that around 65 per cent of people think the Democracy is dwindling and is in bigger trouble.
But he hastened to add that "people's indifference" to what is going around in politics is not a good sign at all. "Everyone of us want our neighbours to fight the evils... I should be safe and my children should be safe," he added.
I wanted to say something. But he quickly remarked that the system is "clinging" to the old script where selfishness was the order of the day.
Only the scale of that selfishness has gone up.
"In general, no one wants to take any risk. No one wants to displease anybody. The reason is clear; there is a status quo and the politics has not evolved in the last two decades," my friend added.
He then referred to a letter penned in 2017 addressed to the then Governor P B Acharya.
I fished out the letter from the internet.
It ran:
"Your Excellency is aware that Nagas are patient people, but there is a limit to our patience.
We are now in a jubilant mood because not only has the NPF severed ties with the BJP for good, you yourself have shown how low you can stoop to achieve your political and religious agenda in the last few days.
You now stand exposed not unlike the proverbial Emperor who went around the streets naked believing that people can see his non-existent cloak!
And so, to celebrate your latest political coup, and to mark the severance of ties with your political party the BJP, we are organising a Beef Feast (Your Excellency knows Nagas are voracious meat eaters) this evening and would like to take this opportunity to invite you to cancel some of your not-so-official engagements in political scheming and to come and join us for Dinner at the Office Headquarters of the NPF Central Office, Kohima."
The communique was signed by Vihoshe N. Swu, President, NPF Youth Wing
and Bendang Longkumer, Working President, NPF Youth Wing.
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| Blogger in Nagaland/ Mon region |
This episode, my friend says - will haunt the political stakeholders in near future now that the government in Kohima will be a joint collaboration and "perhaps a joint misadventure of NPF and BJP".
A couple of RSS leaders tracking north east have reportedly informed Nagpur about the proposed merger move. Apparently, there was no direct or indirect response.
This silence is killing.
No less than Chief Minister Rio has claimed last month that when he told Home Minister Amit Shah about the 'merger move'; there was no response.
Some BJP leaders in Delhi are understood to have taken a jaundiced view of the episode.
The refrain being "desperation to cling to power" should not make the party 'with a difference' give up its self pride. One school of thought says - there is no bar in eating something. Union Minister Kirej Rijiju is a beef eater and he has continued in the Modi government all throughout since 2014.
But the NPF 'beef festival' in 2017 was a direct "insult and challenge" to the then Governor put in one box.
One spin given out is that the NPF leadership in 2017 was under hardliner regionalist Shurhozelie -- and in 2025 his days are over.
The Merger drama is throwing up a few side stories.
One refrain is the Spark will be lit but it cannot be very bright.
Then comes a triangle saga of power, being graceless and tragic. Let us presume it may not be just a coincidence that no actual "sacred cow" will be harmed in the making of that film.
The Cock may tell the 'cow' ... my party is going for a "party" but you could be spared. I may take my Revenge of centuries of years with Hen and nobody in Delhi's corridors of power will mind if hundreds of Pigs are hunted, caught and killed.
We are addicted to that which destroys us. Power is one such poison.
Ask Mr Jagdeep Dhankhar !!
Literature students know Dostoevsky's own experiences with gambling addiction are vividly portrayed through the character of Alexei Ivanovich.
The novel shows how easily a person can be consumed by a destructive passion, losing their sense of self and morality.
The gambler's obsession with the game, despite the inevitable losses, highlights the addictive nature of self-destruction.
Ends
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