[dropcap]A[/dropcap]fter ten years of the slumbering sluggish UPA the Modi sarkar, one has to admit is on a roll. The abdication of governance under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has dragged India into a morass that will need some undoing.
Modi is sending out all signals that he needs to initiate reforms to reinforce the public’s confidence in the institutions of governance. It appears that he is of the view that democracy cannot function without the rule of law that is maintained by various institutions. The absence of strong institutions of governance is bound to lead to anarchy and cause irreparable damage to democracy.But then again the institutions of governance itself are in need of desperate and immediate reforms.
He will have to revisit the justification of several laws that continue to be used to maintain law and order. The Indian Police code is one such law. It is a vestige of British imperialism. The code, which was implemented in 1861, was drafted in the aftermath of the rebellion against the British East India Company and provided the British with brutal power that was needed to subdue the local populace. Such laws many view, are an anachronism for a democracy and give birth to resentment among the innocents suffering at the hands of an unscrupulous police.
In the northeast the repeal of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act used by the armed forces has for long been in demand by human rights groups and specialists who have studied the proliferation of arms into the region. The continuing presence of this act and the debatable justification for the same, they argue is one of the reasons.
While Modi has made it clear that he wants his ministers and their ministries to be result oriented. He has even asked the ministers to set their 100 day agenda in their first day of office. However, one cannot but feel a sense of unease that perhaps the Prime Minister, in his intent is in danger of viewing the northeast through the prism of military action rather than with a healing hand. The fact that he has appointed a former Chief Of Army Staff as the Minister of DoNER , an ex IB bureaucrat as his National Security Advisor and a Union Home Minister who appears confident to solve all the “conflict” issues in the region within three months.
Add to this the recent reports in the media referring to news that the collective NSCN (IM) leadership is in the side wings ready to step into Nagaland state politics (summarily decried by voices in the region) are all indicators of just how off track Delhi is with sentiments of the people of this region.
But the developments also are indicative of the other ‘inconvenient truth’ which need to be heeded by the Naga Political Groups that the time is now at hand to let the public know of what has been the ‘kernel’ of the talks with the Centre in the last 17 years since the Ceasefire begin in 1997.
One nagging issue and sham that the groups in dialogue can shed clearly is that the issue of ‘sovereignity’ has never been under consideration all these years. Remember, these were talks initiated without pre conditions, the only bargain being admitted for the Naga leaders had demanded that discussing the issue of sovereignity would not, not be admissible, even if the talks were not on ‘sovereignity’ per se.
The public know that well. It will be a starting point of an attempt to get honest amongst ourselves if that could be stated in black and white and let people know what other alternatives were being worked out.
Geo-politics has reached dynamics that overwhelm the Nagas demand to be a sovereign nation. The Nagas only need to look at themselves to find the answers why, and if brave enough own up to the decadence that has set into the moral mortar …perhaps there then will true freedom be found.
Right now many immediate challenges face the Nagas. One of it includes creating a paradigm shift in the mind and hearts of thousands upon thousands of men and youth, and entire families who have lived off the ‘political movement’ believing in a ‘sovereign Naga nation’. A shift of the mind to wake up that freedom and soverignity must be pre fixed with economic independence and food security, not dependence. That to be sufficient in food production means hard work not employing migrant labours. That in the 21st century intimidation and threats have to give way to reason and knowledge, that respect for the law calls for discipline in all walks of life, that to hold the Bible and declare Nagaland for Christ is a serious calling. Perhaps, the destiny of the Nagas as some people have stated before this is the calling for Nagas landlocked by nations and states where the gospel has yet to take root. This calling gives no license for killing much less so fratricidal ones.
Two days ago the governor Dr. Aswani Kumar commented on how people who are bi -lingual have the capacity to be more sagacious than other races., and Nagas fall in this category, He encouraged Nagas to learn other languages as well. Peaceful co-existence is the highest hallmark of any man that knows who he is, where he comes from and where he is headed.
For now Nagas will have to find their role in the India that Modi is out to shape. A Prime Minister in a hurry Modi will have to take immediate control of the economy. Goldman Sachs had predicted that India would need to create 40 million jobs over the next decade, if it prescribed to the flexible laws implemented by Modi in Gujarat. However, as Modi has repeatedly accepted, India is not Gujarat and, given the diversity in the country, flexible laws with the hire and fire policy will have to be modified as per local requirements. Inflation, especially food inflation, needs immediate attention.
Modi could do well to release the food grains rotting in the state granaries to the poor. This act, apart from relief to the poor, could also bring down food inflation.
In a country that thrives on legend, Modi’s image has already achieved mythical proportions. The frenzy during his electoral rallies epitomized the belief that people have in his abilities to improve their lives. Indians, despondent because of a lack of opportunities and egregious governance, consider Modi to be the knight who could deliver for them.
His rise from humble origins as a tea seller adds to the allure. That Modi has uprooted the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has convinced the people of his apparent invincibility.
Expectation, however, is a double edged sword. In an age where information is available at the click of a mouse, the electorate has become unforgiving. People will be demanding, as they usually are from their legends.
Will Modi deliver for India, as he did in Gujarat?
His time starts now, and with that ours too.
