So that's that

Yes, that's that. But before we proceed any further, let it be said that our elected representatives needed a good talking to and today, at the emergent Assembly session, Nagaland Governor didn't mince any words to say what needed to be said a long time ago. We must appreciate our Governor for reminding our legislators that representing the people and shouldering the responsibility of governance isn't about "loaves and fishes". And now let us try to understand exactly what happened – although we have a good inkling about the month-long political drama played out by two dissenting groups of the Naga People's Front (NPF). Sure in the next few days, everybody would be giving their "expert" opinions about what happed on Thursday (February 5, 2015), wherein Chief Minister TR Zeliang was unanimously supported by 59 votes in his favour in a House of 60 seats in the state Assembly.

We will also have a lot of people, who will have turned constitutional experts overnight – and we will probably have a few others, mostly elected representatives, and NPF members and supporters making U-turns, even denying what they have said and written in our local newspapers in the past month. So let me also give my opinion that ultimately it was a brilliant stroke by the Central Government that saved the day for TR Zeliang and resolved the political quagmire in Nagaland, even if temporarily. Notice how very deftly the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre played its card – not so much as to allow the political wound in Nagaland to fester further – but to avoid any political controversy that could arise and upset its apple-cart in the Delhi elections, slated for February 7.

Not that Nagaland would have been a major political issue for the Delhi elections but the BJP didn't want to create another stick for its opponent to beat it with – besides, the BJP didn't want to be diverted by any distractions however minor for reasons known to all. Secondly, and perhaps as a natural corollary, what really won the day on Thursday was in-depth knowledge of the workings of the Constitution generally and the Election Commission of India (ECI) in particular.

This may be disputed but the ECI's letter of February 4 was the final game-changer of the two NPF groups' locking of horns. While at one level, it can be politely said that our elected representatives honoured the constitutional provisions, at another level it can be said that ultimately it was self-preservation that prompted the individual MLAs to decide what's what. The past month or so saw much mud-slinging amongst disagreeing NPF MLAs, party workers and supporters, which is disgraceful, to say the least. What is even worse is that the disagreement within the NPF has denied and deprived the people of Nagaland governance, especially at the time when our financial situation is at its nadir. Undeniably, life came to a standstill in the past month or so – in fact, since the run up to the Hornbill Festival, life here was in a limbo – under suspended animation, so to speak. And now, like obedient boys, 59 legislators, including all the other non-NPF legislators, voted in favour of Chief Minister TR Zeliang, as if the past one month didn't happen.

This is encouraging, no doubt, but our legislators now owe an apology to the people of Nagaland, as well as an explanation – after all, they are the people's representatives, the people's servants. Yes, there will be numerous justifications but for once in our lives can we have the truth with an apology?