Cong's poll debacle in Nagaland : Blame it on Rio ?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: March 01, 2013 -

A clear cut verdict. 37 seats in a House of 60 for which results of 59 have been declared and it is Mr Nephiu Rio all the way in Nagaland.

No reason to believe that the Naga People's Front will not win the remaining one seat, where election had to be countermanded following the death of a candidate.

The less said about the Congress the better, managing to win just 8 seats.

A strong message that the guest appearance roles donned by the Gandhi family, president of the All India Congress Committee Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi, who is incidentally the vice president of the AICC, did not cut ice with the people of Nagaland.

Failure of the Congress and success for the NPF, is how the script should be read.

Two points stand out clearly, though there may be other issues visible only to the people of Nagaland, which decided the outcome of the election.

One obviously is the ongoing political dialogue between the Government of India and the NSCN (IM), which is reportedly at its final stage and the other is the utter failure of the Congress to pitchfork a political leader who could match Mr Rio.

Nagaland went to the polls at a very crucial moment, the poll day coming as it did when the political dialogue between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India was reported to be at its final stage.

The people of Nagaland gave their verdict sitting on the edge of the term, 'a final settlement to the Naga issue' and seen in this context, the astounding success of the NPF may be read as an outcome of the manner in which it addressed the ongoing political negotiation between Delhi and the IM faction of the NSCN.

Extend this argument a little bit and it should be clear that the verdict of the people will have an impact on the ongoing political negotiation. The spill over effects on Manipur will also be interesting and intriguing to watch as well.

With Mr SC Jamir at the winter of his political career, it should have been clear to the Congress that what it needed was someone with the charisma and appeal to match Mr Rio.

That it failed to find such a personality was made more than clear in the run up to the election and this is the biggest tragedy of the Congress in Nagaland. Election over, results out.

Now it should be obvious that the focus will shift to Delhi where a final settlement with the NSCN (IM) is reportedly about to be inked.

The pressure on Delhi to arrive at the final stage can only get more acute and it will surely echo in Manipur too, where the United Naga Council has been demanding an Alternative Arrangement for the Nagas of Manipur, outside the Government of Manipur, pending a final settlement to the Indo-Naga issue.

Concurrently the demand of the Kuki Inpi and other Kuki organisations that their issues should be settled before any final deal is sealed with the NSCN (IM) can get more audible.

The demand for a Kuki State, as put forth by the Kuki State Demand Committee, may also get more robust in the near future.

The demands of electoral politics may not always have everything to do with good governance or even performance, but there is no way that credit should not be given to Mr Rio and the NPF for the thumping victory at the hustings.

Beating the anti-incumbency factor cannot be an easy task. A sure indicator that in the last ten years it has been in office the NPF has not lost touch with the pulse of the people.

It however remains to be seen whether the massive mandate that the NPF has received will turn into governance or not.