Benito Z. Swu
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he climate of uncertainty has plagued us, the Nagas, for much too long. The tight rope walking to which we the people have forced our politicians to balance themselves has made it literally impossible for them to even take any initiative in exploiting the whatever natural resources that God has blessed us with. It is not inborn insecurity, but that damp manufactured insecurity which prevents our mindset from jumping out of that small four squared box. While the Indian nation is harping to the world to come and make in India where a red carpet awaits them, while all the other constituent states of the Indian Union are falling over themselves and each other, even jumping the queue in order to attract investors to their respective states, we the unique Nagas too are trying our best, leaving no stones unturned inorder to discourage and dissuade potential investors from even setting a foot in Nagaland. So much for our broadmindedness. Anyway as a consolation, we have a Mamata Bannerjee to look up to as our heroine.Mamata Bannerjee, before coming to power, went firing and ballistic on all four cylinders and succeeded in forcing out the Tatas after much of the infrastructure had already been built upon, into the welcoming arms of Narendra Modi’s Gujarat at the rate of Rs 1/- per acre/hectare of land. Ms Mamata Bannerjee, after coming to power, inspite of all her rhetoric in trying to lure investors to the state, her credibility lies exposed. Unwittingly, in order to spite the face of the CPI(M), Ms Bannerjee has only succeeded in cutting her nose. The people of Bengal realized too late that they have actually jumped into the fire from the perceived pry pan.The apex Naga Hoho and her various constituent tribal hohos are all NGOs and as such are formidable pressure groups that must play its huge vital role of being the intermediary between the people and the government. The complete neutrality and the non-interference in the executing part of decision making by laying down its deliberated view on the table in black and white, is where its strength lies. As such, if Nagaland is to have the good fortune of being able to exploit her natural resources, the Hohos definitely will have to play the vital role of being the plug between the public, the investors and the government of the day. Different individual personalities all comes together to constitute an NGO. And the coming together of the different minds brings about a decision. And this is the reason why a decision reached by any NGO on any matter must be above board without a hint or a whiff of controversy. We believe that every citizen can contribute in one way or the other to built up our society today better than yesterday, and also tomorrow better than today. It is easier said than done, but when we are doing it for ourselves, for our society, why should we be entertaining the ‘hazura’ or ‘thikha’ mentality or view others to be having that mentality? I do not know.
Former Chief Minister Neiphu Rio has been definitely unlucky in one respect. All his tenure the Governors Nagaland had, were either retired highly qualified personalities with military intelligence background or completely political appointees, who all actually were learning on the job. In complete contrast is the present Governor, His Excellency Shri P.B Acharya who has a very strong emotional bond with the people of the region based on his selfless work as the Chief architect of purely public service oriented Non-Governmental organizations. It speaks volumes. The good work and the public trust and faith he has earned within this short period of time is a testimony in itself. The main beneficiary of this goodness is TRZ who, we can be sure, will be thanking his stars. Our hope remains strong that this goodness of the Governor also gets rubbed on our former Chief Minister and the present MP. The ultimate thanks, however, goes to our Prime Minister Narendra Damodar Modi, for giving us the best from among his lot.
