A new face has been emerging in the state political scene in
the last few years. The trend began in Election 2008 with a number of fresh
entrants and has since caught on as more and more young people have taken the
plunge. The present state assembly is also made up of a substantial number of
young legislators, most of whom are first timers.
This is, of course, a welcome development signalling a new
era in state politics.
But sadly a ‘however’ is forcing itself in here.
While this shift is definitely a very good thing, it has been a little difficult to dispel the uneasy feeling that, except for getting a younger look, things may not change much even with the change of guard. Disappointingly, we have seen that the young lot breaking into the scene have simply settled themselves into the old mould instead of carving out new paths apparently quite satisfied to follow the pack rather than torching a new flame.
While this shift is definitely a very good thing, it has been a little difficult to dispel the uneasy feeling that, except for getting a younger look, things may not change much even with the change of guard. Disappointingly, we have seen that the young lot breaking into the scene have simply settled themselves into the old mould instead of carving out new paths apparently quite satisfied to follow the pack rather than torching a new flame.
It’s looking more and more like it’s going to take a lot
more than just young faces to show out the old negative political culture.
One thing about us Nagas is that we always find numerous
reasons to denounce mainland India ,
but on the flip side we happily import some its worst traits – the crass style
of political functioning being a fine example. Most of our politicians enjoy
surrounding themselves with sycophantic chamchas, moving around with gun-toting
‘bodyguards’ and acting like they are a class apart. Issue politics and
intellectual debates are virtually unknown. Not to speak of an aware world
view, many barely have an overall State view.
Being affiliated to a political party and toeing the party
line is all very well, but positive change will not be possible if one is not
ready to think out of the box and have the courage to move beyond the limits of
narrow political party gimmicks. Stiff resistance will present itself for sure, but when is
there ever no resistance to change? The key word is courage….daring to be
different, to do things differently however hard it may be. Only then can
change happen.
Drivel and tripe has been flowing out from the political class
for too long taking simple folks for a ride. It’s way high time for a new breed
of thinking and savvy politicians to rise out of the ashes to lead the Nagas
forward.
To be brutally honest, we are indeed seeing a change in
make-up but that’s it……we are yet to see any real change; it’s still same old,
same old. To the young crop of politicians I say - we are waiting!