The former Finance Minister and ex-Nagaland Congress president K Therie expressed a grim outlook, suggesting that the upcoming Nagaland budget for 2024-25 will be targeted “to recover election expenses and also to buy votes in the next election for all five years.”
According to the former finance minister, the prevalent trend among all 60 MLAs is that they are all burdened with substantial debts and also acknowledged a troubling reality that electoral decisions are often swayed by monetary inducements.
“The first question to any candidate is money,” Therie told this newspaper.
According to him, the ‘oppositionless’ government was formed for money and not for a political solution; otherwise “they would not have chased out RN Ravi who was pursuing hard for the solution.”
Citing the CAG report, Therie pointed to discrepancies between allocated funds and tangible projects, suggesting that “money has been drawn but such projects are unverifiable because it does not exist on ground.”
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He also claimed that “all defeated candidates are forfeiting their properties to black money lenders” and that “some don’t have a place to live.”
Addressing the disillusionment of the youth, Therie said that the youth’s voting decisions were not driven by aspirations for employment or a better future. He claimed how there are widespread backdoor appointments across various sectors such as police and education departments, yet there are no complaints.
“Few decent people who do what’s morally right and honestly want a political solution are the ones who suffer most in Nagaland,” he lamented, adding that corruption is a vicious circle in Nagaland.
He underscored Nagaland’s alarming debt ratio, casting doubt on the budget’s efficacy in addressing societal challenges, especially given the state’s reliance on regular advances from the RBI.
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However, he concluded with a note of optimism, reassuring that a transformative welfare government would emerge with INDIA’s forthcoming leadership change, promising a systemic revamp aimed at genuine societal well-being.
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