Nagaland Minister Kaito Aye while addressing the 69th AKM General Conference on Thursday rightly said that Naga society is fragmented today and called upon the student community to join together and cultivate unity, noting that unity is Naga people’s only strength. Almost every public leader talks about Naga unity, so much so that it has become a cliché but the irony about Kaito’s speech was that he was addressing the student community where both the NSF and the ENSF leaders were in presence. It is indeed a sad reality that there is not a single pan-Naga organization in effective existence today to voice out the opinion of the Naga people as a whole, not even the student community. We cannot expect a brighter future when the students, who are going to be leaders tomorrow, are not united. What is the point in talking about Naga identity when there is not a single cohesive organization to fight for the protection and safeguard of that identity?
Almost every section of the Naga society longs for the resolution of the Naga political problem and has been voicing out for it. Unfortunately, the call for ‘solution before election’ has not been heeded to, at least not till now. It is believed that, had there been a strong pan-Naga organization today, the slogan would have borne an outcome and the problem solved. With the Election Commission announcing the schedule for general elections to the 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly, it is unlikely that the polls would be postponed now. However, there is a glimmer of hope. With the NSCN(IM) and the NNPGs formally coming to terms, there is a possibility that a solution can be arrived at before the elections – that is, we have a month’s time – provided the GoI has the political will. In such a scenario, the assembly election can be delayed. It is pertinent to cite here the example of Jammu & Kashmir where the government is delaying the assembly elections despite the political parties there demanding elections – quite the opposite of what is happening here in Nagaland but similar in that it involves elections. The last assembly elections in J&K were held in 2014.
After revocation of the special status and statehood of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, the Centre promised to hold elections in the newly-formed Union Territory after the delimitation exercise to redraw 90 assembly seats. The process was completed almost eight months ago. Then the electoral rolls were revised and published in November. In October, Home Minister Amit Shah had said the elections will be held soon after publication of electoral rolls. For reasons best known to the GoI and EC, elections are still delayed there. Since the EC is appointed by the Prime Minister, it is obvious that the former will toe the line of the latter. The point here is that the assembly election in Nagaland can be delayed or postponed if the GoI wants to. Sadly, a divided house like the Naga people today cannot exert enough pressure on the GoI to compel it to deliver a ‘solution before election’.
The present situation in Nagaland merits postponement of elections to give way for a peace deal between Naga political groups and the GoI. After a peace accord, there naturally will be an interim arrangement before elections are held. The GoI knows it better; the state politicians know it just as well. The only thing that is missing is unity among the Nagas, the people for whom the ‘solution’ is sought for. As stated by Kaito, unity is the Naga people’s only strength. It is also what is sorely missed today.