Follies, Gratitude, Plans, Planks, all and much more mattered for the verdict from the three states which made a crown to fall, an emperor to loose clothes and an ego get punctured.

Some reputations have been lost. Some nose-dived, and some came up front from nowhere. This in short is the verdict from the three states, which have very little in common but had everything at stake when the bugle was sounded on February 26.

Jamir with a lost crown, crestfallen Purno Sangma and Hrangkhal with a punctured ego  will take a while to recover from  the shock they received.

Post-mortem is not for politicians. But brooding is certainly. It is writ large on Sangma’s face as he strolls along  the circular corridors of Parliament House with a stoop. Suddenly,     this self-styled Cherokee of the North-East is lost not in deep thought, but in political wilderness.

Poor Jamir. His plight is no less different. Gone are his arrogance and strident tone. Mellowed he has become. No he is not meek. And one can still sense the self-imposed aristocratic bearing.

Pity Hrangkhal. The emperor has lost his clothes. Not only his only asset the tribal card.
Sangma, Jamir, Hrangkhal, where will they turn for solace? It is going to be an engrossing and even fascinating study for students of political science. To aspiring Sangmas, Jamirs and Hrangkhals too.

In a democracy, more so in a tribal belt, where every one is known to the other and where there is no need for a newspaper or a television to hold a mirror to the leadership, ivory towers have no place.

This indeed is the harsh reality. Leaders steeped in lavish Congress life style need a rude awakening. Feb 26 verdict just does this, says a journalist, who has been keeping close tabs on the socio-political developments of the northeast.

Unlike his two neighbourhood brothers in defeat, Jamir is unable to reconcile to his lost empire.

CONSPIRACY SYNDROME

He is seeing conspiracies everywhere. Who hatched the conspiracy, you ask. He has a long list and he sounds passionate in his belief.

First and foremost villain of the piece is George Fernandes. Next in the ranking is I D Swami, the junior in the Home, with an IAS background. But for these two gentlemen, I could have carried my writ, remarks Jamir.

How? He has a ready answer. At my behest the Centre has deputed 75 companies of CRPF. Where did they disappear? Why couldn’t these worthies stop the killing,  kidnapping spree of the I/M? Tell me, Why could not they? Who   gave them the orders not to act? Certainly not my government. The monologue drones….

Jamir has a point, whatever be his interlocutors disposition  towards him. But then, if victories or defeats at the ballot box are to be engineered by security forces, the political map of Laloo land would what it is now. Jamir is unwilling to relent. Says a political scientist   with a chuckle: He should remember Darwin for a change. Monkey’s bottoms may be red but not all monkeys are alike.

Says a Kohima based journalist, who doesn’t want to be identified: Jamir emulated Arjun Singh (chief minister of Madhya Pradesh once) in media management. He pampered the chosen journos with digital cameras, laptops, cars and what have you. That proved to be his nemesis. The wily Thakur at least kept an ear to the ground. Jamir did not. So he has to pay the price.

JAMIR’S NON-ENTITIES

Tuensang, Mon and Phek have proved how dissociated Jamir has become from public opinion. In these three districts, the Congress couldn’t win so many seats at it desired. IM alone did not create the miracle. The Muivah- Swu camp went about openly canvassing for the DNA alliance. Even then.

Take Phek. The district has five seats. Jamir nominees were non-entities. Their only qualification was loyalty to the father-son duo. Writing on the wall was clear to everyone. Not to Jamir. Fielding fresh faces is an old trick of the trade, as old as Jamphu hill, to put gloss over the stink. Jamir picked up as many as 18 new faces to gain fresh lease. Not one survived. All sank without a trace. For them, yesterday, the old boss could    never go wrong. Today, he never can go right.

Jamir’s brother who was also a minister to boot, paid for the follies of Father-Son in Dimapur II.     Senti Chauba, a congress senior is also bitter. For a different reason. I was taken for a ride, he remarked ruefully at the end of voting.         He could see the direction of the wind.

Says a close Chauba aide: My boss was done in by Jamir. We never expected Jamir would stoop so low when odds are against    every one of us (Congress). By general consensus the verdict is: Jamir fielded an independent  against him and ensured Chauba’s defeat. Did we not hear Congressman is Congressman’s enemy?

FAILED STRATEGY

Mokokchung, Mon and Tuensang together account for 30 seats that is half of the Nagaland Assembly. As strategies go, Jamir Congress focused only on these thirty seats. Had the plan worked, Jamir could have been the modern day Machiavelli. It did not work. And so he ended up as the fall guy, said a Dimapur College lecturer, who takes more than normal interest in local politics.

Chips in a bureaucrat: Look at it this way. Jamir needed just 25 seats to be in the drivers seat. As a single largest party he could have managed to survive. What is good on paper is never good in the ballot battle. Like our five year plans. We speak of removing poverty with every plan. Plans end. Not poverty.

Even in these hard times, Mokokchung remained loyal to Jamir, his traditional bastion. His nominees almost made a clean sweep of all the seats at stake in the district.

Elsewhere this was not true. N Rio, K Thirie, Chingwang Kobnyak, and Imchalemba are chuckling at Jamir’s discomfort. Popping up the champagne. They and many more like them left the Congress unable to stand up to the overbearing Jamir’s autocracy.

To rub every thing on Jamir will be unfair to the longest serving chief minister of the State. Ten years at the Kohima secretariat came as a crowning glory to a career that blossomed at the time of Indian independence and attracted no less a person other than Jawaharlal Nehru. After what all he had done for the party, it is natural for Jamir to believe that he has become invincible. Problem came only when he began to revel in the Dev Kant (Dev Kant Barua, Congress president during Emergency) dictum and began to imagine like Indira Gandhi and believe Jamir is Congress, Congress is Jamir, says a Dimapur businessman, who counts Jamir as a personal friend.

Adds Vero, a former MP and President, Naga Hoho: Jamir never consulted us. He acted as if we are not Nagas. It is what brought down his fall. “You see, Jamir thought that he is too clever. He is clever no doubt. There are others more clever than him. His was a policy of divide and divide and rule. He tried with the freedom fighters too when every body was praying for the success of peace dialogue. How can you expect him to win”, said Vero.

FOLLIES Vs GRATITUDE

Jamir’s follies alone don’t account for the emergence of BJP, Samata and the Janata amoeba, the JD (U).

Agrees, Kalyan, who works for web site devoted to the North-East. This Assamese journalist and frequent visitor to Nagaland sees in BJP victory a reflection of traditional Naga gratitude. After all it is the BJP prime minister and home minister who invited the Naga freedom fighters to talks. The talks are held in Delhi at the Prime Minister’s office at the top level. It takes time, people know it, to get results. But what matters for them is sincerity. That is on display. So, the Nagas rewarded BJP handsomely.

What about Samata and the JD (U)? It is only a rub off effect. George (Fernandes, the Defence Minister) is a regular fixture in Nagaland. In Manipur also. He is a catholic. If so, what. He has been active with the freedom fighters. Now as Defence Minister his counsel prevails in Delhi. He may not be honest to the core. But he is transparent, says the editor of a Kohima periodical.

Will chief minister Rio ensure political stability? Opinion is divided. His is a coalition of NPF (19), BJP (7), NDF (4), JD-U (2) and Samata (1). Hoshike Sema should have been the obvious choice for heading the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) government. But he bowed out to remain on the sidelines.

With his long political innings and stature as a seasoned statesman, Sema has inherent advantages. Age, he said, doesn’t give him the energy the job demands. He is right in that limited sense. The days ahead are going to be taxing what with the peace negotiations set to enter the most crucial phase.

 The Left Front ministry is back in office. It is the Front’s fifth edition. Manik Sarkar led team has few surprises. He affected few changes in the portfolios of his senior ministerial colleagues. Sarkar inducted five tribals and the lone women legislator Bijoy Laxmi Sinha into his cabinet.

Governor K M Seth administered the oath to Sarkar and his 17 colleagues at the palatial Raj Bhavan. The opposition Congress, INPT and BJP boycotted the swearing in alleging large scale violence was perpetrated in
the elections by the Left parties cadres.

Leaders of Amara Bangali were, however, present in large numbers on the occasion besides a host of l dignitaries, officials, top officers of the security forces and local business leaders.

Top brass of the Marxists, Biman Bose, Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury, all politburo members were also present on the occasion.

While Chief Minister Sarkar and new entrant in the ministry Manik Dey took oath in English, Pranab Debbarma, Khagendra Jamatia and Jitendra Chouhdury opted for Kokborok; others opted for Bengali at the swearing in ceremony.

As expected Manikdada, as the chief minister is known in his close circle,has retained the Home portfolio. He reduced the burden of some like the influential Badal Chouhdury, who was made to give away ‘Power’ to Mnaik Dey, a new entrant into the corridors of government. Badal is left with Finance and PWD. Keshab Majumdar picked up Higher Education, Revenue (Relief and Rehabilitation) and Parliamentary affairs.

Manik Sarkar found in Tapan Chakrabarty, a successor to Aghore Debbarma to handle agriculture since he was trounced in the polls. Tapan also got Health. Jitendra Chouhdury lost ICAT to Anil Sarkar but got Aghore Debbarma’s one time turf Tribal welfare. He also retained rural development and sports.

Narayan Rupini will continue to lord over animal husbandry but is made to shed forests to new entrant Pranab Debbarma. The lone woman minister Bijoy Laxmi Sinha will handle handloom and handicrafts department, hitherto looked after by Ramendra Nath CPI (M) is elevating Ramendra Nath as Speaker.

Nripen Chakrabarty, the uncrowned Marxist leader of the seventies who reigned supreme till he found fault with his another comrades in arms, may be a weak man but he still makes the difference with his presence.
In fact, among hundreds of dignitaries and senior political personalities the non-agenerian leader who managed time to come out of his confinement to a small room in the MLAs’ Hostel, to witness the swearing in ceremony of his ‘blue- eyed- boy’ Manik Sarkar was the centre of attraction.
No sooner than Chakrabarty stepped out of his car, all eyes and flashguns focused on the old man.. The grand old man of Marxist revolution in Tripura was all smiles when the surprised gathering thronged around him.

Except for his age, nothing seemed to have changed as the old man exchanged pleasantries with everyone even who once supported his ouster from the party-be it Baidyanath Majumdar, Sitaram Yechury, Prakash Karat or any other leaders whom he once went hand in hand in his hey days.
Few bureaucrats and their wives, relatively new to Tripura were in fact surprised to learn the old man is Nripen Chakraborty, former Chief minister from January 5, 1978 to February 5, 1988 who once stormed the hills and formed the base of communist movement in Tripura. In fact, on the same venue he was administered oath twice as Chief Minister.

Perhaps, it was only the second time the old man appeared in public after he was dumped on the pages of history by the Left Front.
To the queries of the scribes and photographers, he responded with a smile and a ‘namaskar ‘ The only comment he was willing to make was “Ok, I am fine ”.

Chief minister Manik Sarkar hugged his mentor in front of his colleagues. It was an emotional scene, for Nripen Chakrabarty who groomed Manik Sarkar and for Sarkar who is proving himself to be a worthy successor of a highly disciplinari.

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