The Hindu : Insurgency worries Congress

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2003

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Insurgency worries Congress

By Malabika Bhattacharya

KOHIMA FEB. 24. In its 30 years of existence, Nagaland, a predominantly Christian State in the mountainous North East region, appears to be standing at the crossroads.

Having borne the brunt of a debilitating insurgency that defied a lasting solution and dealt a blow to efforts to build a modern State in the past three decades, Nagaland is set to participate in an Assembly election on February 26, the outcome of which will determine the course of its future politics, working of its institutions, the position of various religious and caste denominations and, of course, provide an indication as to how far the present effort at different levels to bring the main Naga insurgent groups into the mainstream by virtue of a peace accord will succeed.

By all accounts, the election to the 60-member Nagaland Assembly is going to be put down as a momentous one in the annals of Nagaland's electoral politics.

Never before in 30 years has an Assembly election taken place in Nagaland on such a scale — in terms of national and State-level implications, heavy spending, use of violence, and unprecedented jockeying for power.

Central to the Nagaland electoral sweepstake are 60 seats spread over eight districts, the majority of which — 52 — are currently held by the incumbent Chief Minister, S.C. Jamir's Congress party.

An estimated 11 lakh voters have been courted, wooed, even occasionally threatened over the past weeks by about 225 candidates belonging to close to a dozen parties.

Using symbols ranging from the ubiquitous hand to lotus — representing the Congress and the BJP — to flower and grass, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, to innovative but less known flaming torch, chopper, cock and candles, the candidates have harangued the voters for support for their successful journey to the Assembly.

If reports from responsible quarters are anything to go by, in making bids for seats, the candidates, backed by their parties, have dispensed cash and material incentives through their exclusive networks for collecting ballots.

"Money is playing a big role," says Ashok Kumar, a teacher in a church-run school. Everyone is aware of it, but nobody is willing to go on record on it."

Seen through the prism of complex tribal politics, the main personalities and the issues firing up the coming election and their import can be best understood if viewed in the context of the various operating layers.

Undoubtedly, the focus is on Mr. Jamir, 71, a highly intelligent and action-oriented politician on whose successful strategising and networking depends whether Ms. Sonia Gandhi's Congress will return to power for a third consecutive term in this Christian State.

Mr. Jamir is said to possess the requisite money power, muscle, savvy and skills, but unlike in the last elections, he cannot afford to relax at any point now because the Opposition arrayed against him is formidable.

"As such, it is not a tough election for us, because we think only we are capable of ensuring peace and stability," says Mr. Jamir in an interview to The Hindu.

"What we fear is that several insurgents are terrorising our voters at the bidding of the Opposition."

Mr. Jamir is not the only one in his party to harbour such fears about the insurgents playing the cat's paw for his foes. Camping in Kohima as an observer of the All India Congress, Jagdish Tytler, too, felt that the Congress' poll arithmetic could only be jeopardised if its voters stayed away from the polling booths on account of programmed, focussed violence.

"I agree with him (Mr. Jamir).It is not a tough election. I have also predicted a Congress victory. But the factor of insurgents whipping up violence is a strong... and cannot be misjudged," says Mr. Tytler.Pitted against Mr. Jamir and company is the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN), a loosely strung combine of about half a dozen parties whose leaders have burning individual ambitions, king-size egos, and personal agendas to execute.In the frontline of the DAN is the three-month- old Nagaland People's Front (NPF) led by Neiphi-U Rio.

In plainer terms, Mr. Rio is the Nagaland edition of Bengal's Ms. Banerjee, whose party was born primarily out of her anger with the State Congress leadership, notably Somen Mitra. Like Ms. Banerjee in Bengal, Mr. Rio, a former confidante and Minister in the Jamir Government fell out with his mentor and formed the new party.

In the course of an interview, Mr. Rio claimed that the DAN would make a solid dent in the Congress support base.

His supporters indicated that Mr. Rio, riding on the performance, would step into the Chief Minister's shoes.

In the reckoning, the fledgling party would have the highest number of seats among all the DAN constituents.

"They (Congress) cannot play the wounded party now.

After all they are the ones who were the first to make use of the insurgents (read the NSCN-Khaplang group).

In this election too they are using all kinds of methods," Mr. Rio said.

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