[dropcap]N[/dropcap]ow that the Hornbill Festival is over and the tourists have left, it would be fair to share some personal views on the festival and the much hyped visit of the Indian Prime Minister. It is no secret that the state was having tall expectations from the PM’s visit especially on the financial front. Since taking over government, Chief Minister TR Zeliang and his colleagues have marched to Delhi on several occasions meeting with the PM and the finance minister requesting for funds and money to Nagaland. Expectations were raised to such an extent that the government and the public expected Modi to make a grand announcement of PM’s package. Even the two Members of Parliament from Nagaland had submitted a wish list to the PM before his arrival. Modi was making his maiden visit to the region as PM and Nagaland was getting a PM to visit after more than 10 years. The last time a PM came visiting was in the winter of 2003 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee, also from the BJP, spent three days in Kohima. He announced a package of more than a thousand crores to a new government that had taken over under Neiphiu Rio’s leadership. That visit not only strengthened the hands of the government but also won the hearts of the Naga people. Thus, it was only fair to have high expectations on Modi’s visit.
Unfortunately, the visit fell flat on its face and started on the wrong note. The first result of the visit was the cancellation of the official State dinner and cultural programme.The performers would have been practicing for weeks and would surely have been extremely disappointed. The PM had a few meetings with civil organisations and spent a significant amount of time with the Nagaland BJP during his night stay in Dimapur.At Kohima, it was a solitary visit to Kisama where he addressed a few hundred domestic and foreign tourists, state level officials and politicians and those involved with the hornbill festival. Modi is used to addressing huge gatherings that sometimes runs into lakhs of people. He would have been disappointed with the size of the audience, and that was perhaps the reason why even his speech was lacklustre by his own standards. Modi is acknowledged as a marvelous orator and he keeps the crowds captivated with his oratory skills. However, his address at Kisama was below par and sounded more like a formality.
While on the Modi visit, it is impossible not to comment on the disappointing opening ceremony of the Hornbill Festival. The show fell flat on its face and was a huge disappointment for the entire Naga population within and outside the State. At times it was alike a praise and worship, at times it was like a poorly organized music concert and the cultural aspects were shockingly disappointing. Modi himself looked disinterested. The sound system could hardly be heard and Nagaland lost the chance to impress the national and international audiences with a poorly organized show that let everybody down.
In today’s India, a Modi event is an international event via the media, especially live telecast of the event across different television channels that reach out to millions of people within and outside the country. He even commented that the Hornbill festival is “world famous”. But the show was poor andmediocre.
While Modi failed to make any announcements or gift any package to the Nagas, he also did not touch upon the Naga political issue and the peace process. This was another disappointment, though his promise that he would come back was a silver lining.
After Modi spoke, the Chief Minister took the stage and embarrassed the Prime Minister. After the PM had already spoken, our CM begged for money hoping that Modi’s visit would be a “costly affair”. There is no harm and wrong for a State government to ask or beg for money from Delhi, but that should be done in closed door meetings and never in public speeches especially after the PM had already spoken. That morning, the Chief Minister let down all Nagas. With live telecasts in different channels, news organizations and media covering every minute and aspect of the festival, and Modi bound to tweet and comment on social networking sites like tweeter and facebook, the stage was set for Nagaland and the Hornbill Festival to take advantage and promote brand Nagaland to the world. Sadly, we failed miserably. Our leader was more concerned about money, instead of his responsibility to promote brand Nagaland. I felt let down by my chief minister and I am sure many lakhs of Nagas felt the same.
There are questions that need to be asked. Who vetted the opening ceremony? With crores and crores spent on the festival, why did we put up such a poor show? Such a big Modi event does not come every now and then. Nagaland lost a big opportunity. Modi is the second most followed person on the social networking sites in the entire planet! Modi did tweet of his Nagaland visit but there were no tweets of being impressed by the Hornbill Festival. He even walked out before the final item was performed!!
He departed Kohima and arrived in Tripura. On arrival in Tripura the social networking sites were abuzz with his tweets and he even uploaded a picture of him having a meeting with the cabinet of Tripura government, which is a Left Front government opposed to the BJP. How come that did not happen in Nagaland? Why no package in Nagaland? Was it a snub on the Nagaland Government? Are we missing the politics here? Are we not part of the NDA? Nagaland missed a big opportunity.
Diethozo Angami, Dimapur Town
