12/10/2026
It takes immense courage to call black black and white white, and it takes equal cowardice to shield and openly support corruption. The kindest description I can give to this open support for corruption by such reputable offices as the Tzurangkong Senso Senden and Japukong Senso Senden is that it is morally despicable and intellectually bankrupt.
It takes a special kind of mental gymnastics to read that a ₹2.71-crore public project sanctioned for Mangkolemba was built 18 km away inside a Minister's private estate, and respond with official press releases claiming that demanding answers is driven by "ulterior motives", "selfish interest", and a "confrontational attitude."
The joint circus put on display by the Tzürangkong Senso Senden and the Japukong Senso Senden isn't just an embarrassment to their own people but also an absurd, hilarious, and shameless advertisement for open corruption.
Let us mock their "logic" piece by piece, because it deserves nothing less:
The First Joke: Voters outside "30 Alongtaki A/C should not be issuing ultimatums."
The Reality Check: Do the leaders of TSS and JSS understand what a Cabinet Minister is? Shri Temjen Imna Along does not draw his ministerial salary or state development funds from a private Alongtaki bank account. He is a Minister for the State of Nagaland. To claim that state taxpayers cannot question a State Minister because of constituency borders is a level of ignorance that belongs in a comedy sketch.
The Second: It’s in My Backyard!
Both press releases urge us to engage in "constructive dialogue" and seek "practical, long-term solutions" instead of trying to "bring someone down."
The Reality Check: What "dialogue" is needed when a government facility sanctioned on paper as the "Multi-Purpose Hall at Mangkolemba/Mangkolemba Town" magically grows legs, walks almost 18 km into Longtho village, and lands neatly inside the Minister's private property gates? Is the "practical solution" to pretend the Minister's compound is now public domain? By asking the public to hold hands and seek "shared purpose" over a privatized government asset, TSS and JSS are openly telling us: "Yes, the public money was hijacked, but please be polite about it."
The Third: "Absolute Faith" in Total Impunity
TSS proudly declares its "absolute faith and unwavering belief" in the Minister, appealing for a "peaceful and responsible approach."
The Reality Check: There is nothing "responsible" about acting as an unpaid security guard for political malfeasance. Expressing "unwavering belief" in a leader while ignoring that a public building was erected on his private residential grounds isn't loyalty but blind servantship.
Now, a Question to the Right Thinking Citizens of Tzürangkong and Japukong:
Are you not embarrassed by these statements by your leaders?
While the rest of Nagaland looks at this project with shock and disbelief, your apex bodies have officially gone on record to say: "If our Minister takes a public building and puts it in his yard, nobody else is allowed to complain."
By defending the indefensible, your leaders have made your ranges the laughingstock of the state. They have traded away public integrity, the rights of youth, and basic common sense just to shield one politician.
It is time for the people of Tzürangkong and Japukong to openly ask their Sendens: Are you representing the public, or are you just running a defense committee for corruption?
Tali M Sashi Jamir
