Against the backdrop of serious problem that has arisen over the fate of conduct of polls to ULBs (Urban Local Bodies) in Nagaland, veteran Naga political leader and former governor and chief minister Dr. S.C .Jamir has laid the blame for the current imbroglio squarely on the leaders of the party in power since 2003.
In a statement, Dr. Jamir lamented that due to lack of seriousness about governance that needed proper planning and vision, some politicians in the state are not serious about it but instead exhibited a propensity to blame New Delhi as an “escape route”.
He further pointed out that the government in power in 2016-17 had committed a blunder with regard to polls to ULBs as it was “clueless on how to run the administration.
Without going into details, Dr. Jamir said “a whimsical government and its legal officer, gave an undertaking to the Supreme Court for holding polls”. He said that would have been an opportunity to explain to the apex court, “the special political rights Nagaland has.”
However, he regretted that “the opportunity was wasted” adding, if the chief minister lacked the “maturity to gauge public sentiment; then there is something seriously erroneous.”
While admitting that both the womenfolk as well as menfolk may have their understanding over rights, the government should have acted as a benevolent guardian for the people. However, Dr. Jamir concluded that expecting this would be too much “from leaders and a government, whose hallmark has been to move from one pillar of failure to another post of disaster.”
The veteran politician who served as governor of several states and also as four-time chief minister of the state, noted that some Naga leaders were confused between “patriotism and duty of governance” due to the selfish goals of one or two individuals. He said if these became a substitute for state building and striving towards high positive goals, then there is a problem. In this regard, Dr. Jamir claimed that new districts were created within a week to appease some organisations while another pressure group was encouraged to rush to Delhi “for splitting Nagaland.”
He said on the third occasion, the rulers attempted to appease tribal bodies by repealing a law in the assembly and forgetting that the matter was subjudice and subsequently inviting contempt of court proceeding.
Dr Jamir asked, under such circumstances, “does the chief minister still deserve to occupy his office?”. He said if the only priority of those in power was to remain in office, then it is people who will suffer.
He said in the past, people sacrificed to achieve recognition of Nagaland as a “Special Political Entity” but for the present leaders, their “self-goals are the hallmarks”.
Dr Jamir reminded all stakeholders that the Nagaland Legislative Assembly is the only competent authority to enact laws for the state and therefore, called for upholding the sanctity of the institution and urged upon the elected government to work out what was best for the people of Nagaland.
Wednesday, July 16, 2025