RISING PEOPLE’S PARTY launched a campaign for President’s Rule in the state of Nagaland. RPP stated that the imposition of President’s Rule in Nagaland is the only solution to the ills of fiscal mismanagement and systemic corruption plaguing the state under the present UDA coalition government. Dr Aniruddha Babar presents his analysis on this burning issue.
PRESIDENT’S RULE IN NAGALAND-A Ground Zero analysis
Dr. Aniruddha Babar, Dept. of Political Science
“Law and order are the medicine of the body politic and when the body politic gets sick, medicine must be administered.”
~ Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
As we, the people of the state of Nagaland, are aware that the Nagaland-based political party, the Rising People’s Party (RPP), has launched an online signature campaign for President’s Rule in the state on the ground of ‘Financial Emergency’. The demand of RPP raised many eyebrows as well as questions. As a student of Law & Political Science and responsible citizen, I think it is my cardinal duty to put some light on this debate in the larger interest of our people so that the clouds of ignorance and confusion will be dispersed.
Nagaland is a troubled state. It has been suffering from serious issues revolving around Rule of Law and Governance. I have been studying, researching and writing about Nagaland for a very long time, nothing has been hidden from my eyes. As we can see, right from Noklak to Dimapur our people have been suffering for years. In the name of development and economic justice nothing concrete happened in the state. Be it a question of roads, street lamps, power supply, clean drinking water, education, financial investment (international as well as domestic), broken law and order, unemployment, poverty, medical services, fiscal irresponsibility, perpetual deficit state budget- we are yet to achieve the standard which rest of the nation has been able to achieve. The so-called development money coming from the center miraculously disappears in the ‘Neverlands’ of the organic “Nut and Bolts” of the political and administrative governance of the state of Nagaland. Isn’t it an open secret? Also, concrete evidences regarding discriminatory allocation of development schemes by the Government of Nagaland to the Eastern Districts coming to the surface. If this is not a “systematic clandestine oppression” of Eastern districts and our Eastern people by the Government of Nagaland for decades then what it is? Frontier Nagaland wants to know!
Nagaland has become a state where people are not just suffering from gastric diseases en masse, but have also been severely infected with a cancer of corruption which started to spread from those who have been loitering AT the top of the pyramid of the power and those who are “IN” the pyramid of the power. We MUST accept the fact. When our people are suffocated and crushed under the pyramid of power, public intellectuals (THOSE with character and courage- NOT armchair, visiting, politically convenient thinkers) must have audacity to speak and act for the present and future of the people of Nagaland.
As said before, the Rising People’s Party is all out for a President’s Rule in Nagaland on the grounds of Financial Emergency. What is the legality of this demand? Whether the demand has any constitutional substance? Let us understand. Article 360 of the constitution of India provides that if the President is satisfied that the financial stability or credit of India or any of its part is in danger, he may declare a state of Financial Emergency. Art 360 provides that if the president is satisfied that a situation has arisen whereby the financial security of India or the credit of India or of any part of India is threatened, he may make a declaration to that effect.
Now, having regard to the present economic and financial situation in our Nagaland there can hardly be any Member of the society who would dispute the necessity of invoking such an extraordinary provision of the Constitution of India as a last resort in the best interest of the common people of Nagaland. Under the constitutional provision of the “Financial Emergency” the President has the power to treat all State Subjects as if they were subjects in the Concurrent List and Parliament will be able to legislate about them. It is quite possible that State of Nagaland may be forced by some legislation of their own, by their own laws to act in a particular manner and may not have the legal authority to carry out the directions of the President, in such circumstances the Parliament have power to alter those laws of the States and therefore during that period Parliament will have power to pass laws even on subjects contained in List No. 2 as if they were in the Concurrent List, so that the necessary financial measures will be taken in order to meet the emergency of our ailing state. In short, if the State government is not able to be a stable, firm and active channel of “Economic Justice” which is guaranteed to every citizen of India by the Constitution, the Centre has a right to intervene and take over the affairs of the state as per the rules laid down in the Constitution.
We have in the preamble, said that the sovereign people of India make this Constitution. The sovereign people are not “any people” but the sovereign people of India as one unit acting through its supreme organ, the Constituent Assembly, which was creating the Constitution for the country as a whole. Every Government must satisfy the needs of the sovereign people of India. In a financial emergency, as we can witness in our state of Nagaland, there cannot be a greater privilege than that all financial affairs shall be controlled and directed from the Centre, as put forward in Art 360.
I maintain; that the emergency should be imposed not only on Nagaland but on all those States which are not able to run the State administration. Like our Nagaland, there could be some States which are not able to pay salary to their employees, they are not able to recruit the young blood in free and fair manner, they are not able to pay to the contractors for the work done by them, they are not able to pay the matching grant even to the panchayats and local bodies. Then why should there be a State Government? Under the Constitution, there is distribution of power between the States and the Centre, but some States including our Nagaland are not functioning properly. So, IF the Central Government is not bothering about the deteriorating condition of states like Nagaland, I would say that the Central Government is not functioning at all. This is not an individual assessment of Dr Aniruddha Babar, every section of society, every cross-section of people has come to understand that there is no Government existing in Nagaland.
The deteriorating trend in the fiscal position of the State Government of Nagaland needs to be urgently reversed and the constitutional rights of the people of Nagaland must be restored. Late. Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji wrote in his Poem, “Bharat Zameen ka tukda nahi, Bharat Ek Jeeta Jagta Rashtra-purush hai”- I remind our people and the Central Government the words of Vajpayee Ji- “India is not a piece of land, it is a living nation”, if any of its vital organs catches an ailment, the entire body is bound to get sick.
The demand of the Rising People’s Party of Nagaland is legally valid, morally correct and constitutional in nature. As concerned citizens of India, people of the State of Nagaland have every right to call for ‘Rescue Mission’ to the ‘Hon’ble President of India’ when the Fundamental Rights-the human rights guaranteed to them are blatantly challenged and jeopardized by the State Government.
Degree of Thought is a weekly community column initiated by Tetso College in partnership with The Morung Express. Degree of Thought will delve into the social, cultural, political and educational issues around us. The views expressed here do not reflect the opinion of the institution. Tetso College is a NAAC Accredited UGC recognised Commerce and Arts College. The editors are Dr Hewasa Lorin, Dr Aniruddha Babar, Khangpuiliu Pamei, Rinsit B Sareo, Meren and Kvulo Lorin.
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