In 2015, the then chief minister TR Zeliang in the thick of the crisis faced by his government due to the move by the legislators of his party for a change of leadership remarked “In politics, there is no permanent friend and no permanent foe”. The statement was made more as a consolation, at a time when he was openly speaking against his former Leader of the House and MP Neiphiu Rio joining hands with the MLAs to dislodge him from the chair. As the events unfolded in the next few months after the statement was made, it almost became a guiding light in yet another crisis ridden tenure of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly as it is the case in many of its tenures. The floor test saw the Congress and the BJP along with all the NPF members including the dissidents voting in favour of the chief minister, and thus proving his statement right. Thereafter, with disqualification petitions followed either by rejections or withdrawals based on various court orders the 12th NLA has witnessed one of the highest mergers. The House that started with 38 NPF, 8 Congress, 4 NCP, 1 JDU, 1 BJP and 8 independents now has 49 NPF, 4 BJP and 8 Independents all in the Treasury bench in what it terms itself as ‘opposition-less government’. The Indo-Naga peace talks are the cited reason for such a move to have a House without any opposition.
After the very eye-catching package came the murkier details on the inside with a government that the people felt was becoming too powerful and unquestionable. On the other hand the previous allegations of corruption by the then opposition was all forgotten and probably forgiven. The then leader of the Congress Legislature Party had raised an issue in the Assembly in July 2014 of possible scam in the State Lotteries Department to the tune of 77 crore that was not discussed in future sessions of the Assembly. Also in December 2014, the then NPCC President alleged that the Minister of Education had demanded a percentage cut in the release of money for the construction of a school building in his village. However all these matters saw its natural death after the crisis started in January 2015.
The series of agitations over the non payment of salaries and anti-corruption protests that instead had the government using police force to suppress it were the first signs of an very authoritarian government. It finally culminated in the protest by the tribe organisation against the conduct of ULBs that resulted in violence, death and loss of property leading to the demand for resignation of the chief minister. The former chief minister’s statement might have also been the reason for the undoing if he had accepted it as a maxim and so any form of genuine protests by the people were always considered as instigated by his political rivals.
As a result the 12th NLA witnessed the third chief minister with less than a year to go for the next elections. Nagaland has a tradition of crises ridden tenures; earlier the 4th NLA and the 7th NLA also had three chief ministers each. In the history of the state, it was only five times that the full term of the NLA could be completed with a single chief minister. Instances of crises are also more prominent when the treasury bench has more members in the house. Therefore the state also has a very unique distinction of conducting no-confidence motion against the then chief minister P.Shilu Ao during the first assembly tenure when there was no opposition bench in the House.
So even after 53 years since statehood the lawmakers still relegate their duties and functions to be compared with some other institutions that see a lot of rat races is proof of the actual scenario. The health of the democratic principles and the integrity of the people in the state are indicated by such cases. The misnomer that everything is fair in politics has to be corrected if the state has to progress. Even in politics proper environment is required so that there is a sense of honour, trust and ethics attached to it rather than cut-throat politics for power that only harms the society.
