The new team will soon flex their muscles in confronting the various challenges ahead of them.It will be a new team but amixture of old and new wine in a new bottle. One has to wait and see the unfolding of changes that has been promised during election.It is only hoped that the wines in the new bottle will produce the expected aroma and the taste that will be commensurable to the changing scenario.The state has wasted virtually five precious years in forming, breaking and reforming the government squandering away too many precious times doing too precious little.The people do deserve a stable government alien to kazirangaculture, that is capable of delivering goods to the people.They are elected by the people and are honourable servants not masters. Hopefully they will serve the people with sincerity and transparency. Wishing all the best to Rio and his team.
The recent election held in Nagaland will go down in the annals of Nagaland election History as the most expensive election where money did most of the talking leaving contestants numb and angry. Though “Clean Election” campaign did make some impact in some areas, in most of the constituencies it was money that did most of the talking. Money was pumped into the house from the back doors and the ideologies, slogans, manifestoes and promises were pushed out of the front doors.We have proved once again to the world that we are people without principle and that we can be easily bought with money.This unpalatablephenomena should prick the conscience of all right thinking citizens. At the peak of electioneering,Dimapur the commercial hub of Nagaland was infested with money lenders or borrowers,middlemen or pimps all frantically in search of money either to borrow or to lend.For some the follow up of the settlement of accounts in election will be nerve wrecking and strenuous.
There are always winners or losers in every election and in the recently concluded election in Nagaland, even some competent candidates that would have been assets to the state lost in the battle of ballots.After all,election is a number game and numbers often favours quantity but less of quality.
The one area that may cause concern is the trend that is gradually evolvingin seeking the assistance of the centre in forming our own government by members elected by our own people. Aren’t we not capable of constituting our own government without the assistance fromoutside? Can’t we not stand on our ownfeet to run our Government that will only strengthen our repeated claims that our society is so unique? Another area that may provide food for thought is the massive participation of retired government servants in the election fry.We have in-fact inherited the system of civil service culture from the British where the norms of civil service neutrality is strictly pursued.This system has worked well in our country too.One of the objects of civil service neutrality is conceptualised with the view to perpetuate the running of the various machineries of the government uninterrupted even when a certain government is replaced after five years.Civil servants are thus administrativelytrained and oriented but not politically groomed.There is a risk of even administrative breakdown, should civil servants owes allegiance to ideologies of aparticular party. It may also be very difficult for a civil servant to act impartially should he or she set their eyes in politics after retirement. Thus civil servants and politicians have separate professions and expected to be trained in their respective professions accordingly.This is the way parliamentary system works in our country.Thus the massive exodus of retired government servants to politics in our state after concretising their mind-set in civil service for morethan thirty years may not be so idealistic nor practicable.Retired government servants joining politics should therefore be made only as an exceptionality on thegroundsof possessingremarkable ability, experience, integrity and Vision.
Time has also come in providing breathing space for women in election.The day for the era of male chivalry is over.It is not the muscle power but efficiency that has become the order of the day.It is a matter of concern that no women contestant could grapple a seat in the Assembly from the Nagaland male dominated society in the recent election.It is high time to do away with the culturally nourished concept of male dominance in the realms of administration assuch concepts are outdated and irrelevant in the modern day society.Amidst such concept there is therefore a need to legislate for reserving certain seats for women in the Assembly. Men’s rigid mind-set towards women’s participation in politics should be changed.Given a chance,in many areas women may do much better than men in the field of politics.
People have voted the legislators to power.It is now the turn of the legislators to visit their respective areas and look into the needs of the people.
Tali Longkumer (IAS rtd).
