Another Nice Mess You Got Into, Mr Governor

Oh Dear, Mr Governor you seem to have developed the taste for controversy after you assumed the gubernatorial post, just like the varied tastes of us Nagas. It is not that you were any stranger to controversies during your stint as the National BJP leader in charge of Nagaland and the Northeast, but we expected your crusade to saffronise the region would cease once you take over the non-political, apolitical responsibilities of a Governor. But it turns out that you still have the Trishul in your hands and the whites of your eyes are still saffron, with your target remaining the same: To pierce the Trishul into the Heartland of the Northeast.

Firstly, it started with your attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court's full-bench Constitutional landmark ruling that Floor Test is the only test to determine whether a Chief Minister has the support of the House or otherwise, isn't it? You should have summoned the Assembly latest by the third week of January when the crisis of within the NPF surfaced on January 4, 2015, but you delayed the issue on the premise that the dissidents have the majority of the NPF rebels on their side and that it should be amicably settled within the NPF itself. Not so mysteriously, the four BJP MLAs along with the BJP President Nagaland Unit, broke bread with the dissidents at Sovima. But then, as the Governor ensconced warmly in the Raj Bhawan Hill at Kohima, you might not have been aware of these petty political issues and developments, and you went to Delhi to meet the Home Minister. Whether it was because of your innocence or your mala fide intentions, we were given to understand that you returned to Nagaland House, after meeting Mr Rajnath Singh, in a FOWL mood!

It was at your Republic Day's At Home Tea where you addressed a non-Hindi speaking Naga audience in chaste Hindi, wasn't it? Not many of those who attended the function made out anything of your speech, Mr Governor, and you were the butt of many a joke after that and I hope not many of them reached your ears. Wasn't that something like miming or signaling with the hands to someone in the dark? Or, in the words of a youngish fellow, winking at a woman in the dark? You knew what you are saying or wanted to convey, but the others were completely, so to speak, in the dark! Not done, Mr Governor, that kind of thing, neither here in Kohima, nor in Dispur or Udipi.

And then there you were in the hallowed hall of the Assembly on February 5, 2015, walking in weak and old and assisted by your Aide de Camp, but nevertheless, dignity, graciousness and solemnity written large all over you. However, your clarion call "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" at the end of your, frankly speaking, much-awaited speech did not go down well with anyone there. It took us completely by surprise, and we felt it was totally uncalled for and unbecoming of a Governor. It is not that we are against any religion but with the little that we know, we are given to understand that Raj Bhawan is no place to be used by anyone to proselytize and if at all you want to change your colours like the unpredictable climate of Kohima, you might as well resign from the post and continue to be a Pracharak that you were, Mr Governor.

Mr Governor, after listening to your speech at an ISKCON function in Kolkata on March 26 last, I was left bewildered, astounded and speechless. After one year in Office, you have found out that the name of Lord Krishna cannot be mentioned in some places and that if one does, one is punished? Pray tell, Mr Governor, where on earth are these places? And in this one year or so in Office, you could come up with the anagrams of the names of the Northeastern States, and that too, to make up the word NAMASTE – a word of greeting seen to be purely Hindu in practice?

Pathetic, Mr Governor, pathetic. If NAMASTE is the best that you can do to sum up the Northeast, your best certainly won't do. Your exhorting the gathering to set up Mandirs in the region was also in bad taste. Why only Mandirs? Why not Churches, Mosques, Monasteries or Gurudwaras along with Mandirs? But then, to be very fair, listening to the audio of your speech, you seemed to have been swayed away by the round of applause that greeted you and if applause – a rare commodity in these parts of the world – sways you to speak garbage, we will try to learn and in future, receive you with amplified rounds of applause so that you can speak nonsense in our favour, Mr Governor!

Another nice mess you got yourself into, Mr Governor, when you nominated four RSS cadres to the court of the Dibrugarh University last month. You have incurred the wrath of the Assamese people, and that too, when you are only holding the additional post of the Governor of Assam. The Assamese people have now petitioned the President of India to "restrain" you, as if you are a way-ward boy! My Oh My, you seem to have the knack of easily earning the wrath and ire of the people you administer, Mr Governor. Or is your manifest different from other Governors and you are to alienate rather than administer the people?

And what about your widely-covered comment that Congress has looted the country more than the Mughals and the British, Mr Governor? Are you planning to apply for the post of spokesman for the NDA Government any time soon? Or are you practicing your lines so that the Prime Minister would soon MODI-fy the present Raj Bhawan post into a Union ministerial berth?

Whatever the case may be, it should be said here that at no point of time has any Governor in Nagaland landed in as many controversies in so short a stint as you have, Mr Governor.

On that note, Mr Governor, have a good day and wish you a safe return to the State.

Jai Hind!

(By Sebastian Zumvu)

The views reflected in this piece are that of the author and need not necessarily be that of TNT-The Northeast Today