Congress is working hard to restore its former grandeur in Nagaland after failing to win even a single seat in the last state assembly elections in 2018. K Therie, the president of the NPCC, has often expressed confidence in the party’s ability to form the government in the event of elections.
“We were not prepared last time since we did not know whether or not the election would be held. However, we are better prepared this time and will do significantly better,” he had said in an earlier interview with Mokokchung Times.
The party is “open to all kinds of alliances with secular ideology,” the president has emphasized in numerous interviews with Mokokchung Times. Therie has already called for “all like-minded leaders and political groups” to get together to form a Secular Front last month.
Political analysts claim that the Congress is relying on three main factors in Nagaland for the elections, including a strong anti-Hindutva stance in a state that is predominantly Christian, the inconclusive Naga peace talks, and the anticipated ticket-fighting conflict within Neiphiu Rio’s Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP).
Indian Express reports that the party has contacted and is in communication with the Church as well as the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs), an umbrella organization of six Naga nationalist organizations.
It also noted that the Congress is emphasizing on the ruling NDPP-BJP alliance’s failure and delay in bringing an end to the seven-decade-long conflict, which was a campaign pledge made before the most recent Assembly election.
According to the same news source, unlike the NSCN (IM), the NNPGs have been on board with the solution provided by the Union government since the official completion of the peace talks in 2019. Therefore, this further highlights the relevance of Congress reaching out to NNPGs. More intriguingly, it was reported that the NNPGs have been unhappy about the perceived intimacy between rivals NSCN (IM) and the NDPP.
The idea that the Congress is eyeing the NPF for an alliance has grown stronger since the AICC delegation met with NPF President Shürhozelie on Friday.
According to many analysts, the congress will benefit from the NDPP-BJP coalition because 21 NPF MLAs have joined the NDPP, forcing the party to fill seats where it ran its own candidates in the previous election.
Furthermore, even though there are 12 BJP MLAs, the allies have divided the seats such that the BJP would contest 20 seats and the NDPP the remaining 40, making it much more difficult for the NDPP to field candidates. According to a political analyst cited by Indian Express, the Congress will profit from the confusion this is likely to cause.
Nitish Kumar’s visit to Nagaland in September also suggests a Congress-JDU coalition. It can be recalled that Nitish Kumar became the CM of Bihar for the 8th time after splitting from the BJP and forging a greater alliance (Mahaghatbandhan) with six other political parties, including RJD, Congress, HAM, and CPI (M).
However, it remains to be seen whether anti-Hindutva politics and delay of Naga solution would benefit Congress in any way.
Ideology or patriotism has never been important issues for Nagaland voters. Voters in Nagaland typically associate themselves with and support political candidates. The politics of Nagaland have traditionally been based on bloc politics, tribalism, village-ism, or clan-ism. This is evident from the practice of declaring “consensus candidate” in almost all villages. This is also supported by the research presented in Dr. E. Benrithung Patton’s book, “Political Participation and Political Attitude: A Study of Mokokchung District,” at least for Mokokchung.
Therefore, the politics between CNTC, TPO, and ENPO will therefore likely have a stronger influence on the election of 2023.