"The boot is on the other foot"
— Politics in boundary issue is importing danger for Congress —

Oinam Anand*

The whole valley of Manipur was in the grip of unseasonal rain combined with a cold wave in the month of January. Now the rain has stopped but the cold wave continues with mercury down below 4 deg Celcius even in the second week of February. But during these long winter months, starting from mid-October there had been a hot current in the Congress Camp of the SPF Government in Manipur.

The political atmosphere was remarkably hot in the ruling Congress party with the party dividing into Anti - Ibobi and Pro - Ibobi Camps. Suddenly wranglings within seem to have been toned down for the moment. It is learnt that some dissidents have shifted their loyality back again to Ibobi and returned to their original fold much to the comfort of the CM.

But now, a current of hot wave comes from the north again and the valley of Manipur is hot again with NGOs and political leaders and parties (excluding Congress) keeping vigil and are preparing for something which if it happens then the image of the outcome might horrified even the common man.

It is none other than the election manifesto of the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee, which promises to endorse the demand for the integration of all Naga inhabited areas under one administrative unit, if the party comes to power after March 5 Assembly election.

If political activities and running political parties becomes devoid of all principles and ideologies and becomes only a mode to the corridors of power and always remaing in power then no laws can work because such a situation is an antithesis of all concepts of rules of law. This is what the Congress party is doing these days.

In view of the lurking threat from the left parties in matter of policy making in the UPA Govt. from time to time and the growing threat of the power of BSP in UP, Congress is now facing an uphill task to form a Govt. of its own or to continue the UPA again.

The party is working hard to get at least 150 seats in the next Lok Shabha election due to in early 2009 even if it fails to get majority. PM Manmohon Singh went to the extent of facing a mid term election in 2007 in the wake of Indo-US nuclear deal in July 2007. But the wind did not favour Congress at that time.

Now after the defeats in UP, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat assembly elections, the permutation and combination of Congress vote in these states has gone wrong. So the party is keen to come to power in the three NE states for which assembly elections are due in March, at least in Nagaland and Meghalaya the party wants to come to power.

What is clear already is that the Nagaland Congress will not be able on its own to reach 31. At the same time the party knows well that the issue of “Nagalim” is very crucial. If Congress wants to come to power in Nagaland it has to ride on this issue.

So for the time being they forget about Manipur, forget about Common Minimum programme in which the UPA partners agreed to keep the boundaries of the NE states intact. For the Congress, a Congress MP from Nagaland is becoming very important in the coming Lok Shabha for this the party is even ready to disrobe their integrity and their commitment to the people of Manipur.

Will the congress party be able to fulfil what they promised in the manifesto about 'Nagalim'? The motives are arguable. The party knows well the fall out that might happen in the neighbouring states of Nagaland when a greater Nagaland is formed.

So it is best to be taken that the manifesto which brings back the 16 point statehood agreement of 1960 to this 2008 state election is only a means to win the election and to forget it after the election.

Here the distressing point to be noted is that the 'Nagalim' issue has been callously politicised, perhaps as never before. The Naga Community has been fantacized for a never achieving end by the Congress for a pot of gold at the foot of the rainbow.

It would be unfair to blame the present regime of Manmohon Singh in isolation from the other factors and the opportunist acts of successive governments at the centre. First it was A.B. Bajpai and his NDA Govt. whose word of 'without territorial limit' brought the nightmarish experience of June 18, 2001.

The national political leaders are always shifting from 'Conciliatory' mode into a final act 'Confrontational' mode in fact of giving the appearance that the parties are working for conciliation while they had already decided on a confrontation.

The Congress manifesto for Nagaland election - 2008 is a clever, but not clever enough exercise in proclaiming wrong to be right, and in standing everything that has happened on its head. Its key technique is the big lie, brazenly and tirelessly reworked. The ploy would lead to a no win situation for Congress either in Nagaland or in Manipur in the long run.

The philosophy of the Congress manifesto of NPCC is one of hopelessness and defeatism. While the temporary electoral advatage at one election may not be important, what is going to be disastrous is the possibility of the permanent hatred and clashes among different Communities living in the NE states. If so happens neither Sonia Gandhi, nor Manmohon Singh, nor Prithiviraj Chauhan nor AICC nor MPCC will be able to control the spread of the fire.

In the final analysis the NPCC's manifesto seems to match the NSCN (IM)'s long cherished demand and the manifesto is the whole summary of the details of conversation held between Govt. of India and NSCN(IM).

But still much of the truth is hidden. The political power operators have come to vested interests in dividing societies on parochial, caste, ethenic and other narrow lines in order to build their vote bank.