[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s the nation gallops to the counting of votes to the “Poll of Polls, Lok Sabha 2014” the dust it is raising has reached our own drawing rooms here in Nagaland. It has blurred the vision of the common man. His faculty of comprehension to interpret the political environment is being challenged to a degree like never before.
Every statement, reaction, action, non action from its leaders are all being read or misread as significant by the public and in some instances even the politicians/leaders themselves.
It is both amusing and amazing to watch how we are all going around the merry go round albeit unconsciously playing a game of snakes and ladders.The race to the seat of the Chief Minister began to be played out much like the childhood handkerchief game where children sitting in a circle chant the following in unison -“I sent a letter to my mother, and on the way I dropped it. And somebody has picked it up and put it in his pocket …it is’nt you, it is’nt you, it is’nt you … it is you!”
The chanting accompanies the person who runs around the circle with a handkerchief rolled up like a ball.
He must as deviously as possible drop the item behind someone’s back, without raising his or her suspicion.
But the rest of the people in the circle can clearly where the “hanky-ball” is being placed.
They may choose to be silent and as the chanting pick speed and crescendos the person who has behind whose back the “hanky-ball” has been placed will receive a huge thump on his back. At the same time the lines of the chant “it is’nt you …it is’nt you …it isn’nt you”, will turn to a loud “IT IS YOU” and the person will be out of the game.
But more often than not in this game as everyone sits in a circle alliances from nowhere invariably step in. They will try to warn the person with behind whom the item has been placed. This is done using body language. Suddenly, eyes begin to speak and the chin and torso develop languages of their own.
It is up to the person to interpret these signs.
If he reads them well he can react to the warnings.
Warned well, he is likely to find the “ball” placed behind him. He can then pick up the same give chase to the person who placed it and aim the ball at him. If it makes contact, the person who placed the ball is out, much like being “bowled out”
A new game begins with the person who threw the ball as the person who now has the privilege of placing the ball behind someone else’s back.
This analogy of the children’s game with the 38 NPF legislators however also has rules.
Once the person behind who’s back the “ball” has been placed gives chase to the runner … they must round around the circle of players. The one who is giving chase cannot aim the “ball” across the circle. The person must be in his line of direct vision.
When the person who is being chased stops to run in circles and runs amock to avoid getting hit, the game itself is threatened. It more often than not breaks up.
This happens because as the tempo of the game builds up those who have been sitting obediently in a circle and following the leader also suddenly realize they want a piece of the action.
The game after this point descends into chaos a free for all. Its fun in a child’s world but to ensure everyone gets a chance to “place the hanky” a referee is a good idea, A referee who the children will listen to.
The question in the case of the game over post of CM within the NPF today is, who is the referee and one they will all listen to ?
