Ngaupu A
Nagaland University
Nagas are known for their bravery and the fact is known to the world, particularly to the mighty British who fought war against the Naga villagers. Our forefathers had built a great image in the eyes of the world. British really fought hard to annex even a small village with primitive weapons. Regardless of the present situation, Nagas have glorious past.
When I go through the history of Nagas, I feel so proud to be a Naga. I really want to salute to those Nagas who had laid down their lives for the cause of Nagas. But today, it’s really discouraging to see the present state/condition of Nagas. The brave and honest Nagas that once outside people used to know are no more; such species of Nagas are already extinct.
During 1940s and 1950s, Nagas fought with one spirit and objective. Thousands of Nagas were chased and killed like animals in the jungles, hundreds of women were raped and hundreds of villages were burnt down to ashes. In one of the books, I read that some of the villages were burnt more than 25 times. I don’t know what will remain of the villages after burning for 25 times.
British had tortured India for 200 years, but I never heard or read Indians being raped, boiled or buried alive, but Nagas had gone through all these inhuman acts. Indian army even went to the extent of exhibiting death bodies and used prisoners for target practice. I can picture the dark period gone through by the Nagas at that time and it’s really heart breaking. But when we look into the history of Nagas post 16 Points Agreement; we are hurting ourselves more than India does. Whether undergrounds or NGOs, each and everyone is driven by money and money alone and we have habit of eating partially cooked or uncooked food. The saddest part in the history of Nagas is not the inhuman acts done upon Nagas by Indians; what really hurts is the history of Nagas killing one another for some other reasons masked by the freedom struggle.
India finally came to the realization that the Nagas cannot be killed by the bullets but money. India began to arrange birthday gifts in the form of 16 Points Agreement, Shillong Accord etc. Thousands of Indian soldiers and advance weapons could not break the Nagas, but the Shillong Accord containing two rupees sweets for mouth fresh broke the Nagas in so many pieces.
After more than half century long fight, NSCN (IM) came to the conclusion that the sovereignty is so far away from us. So they are left with no choice other than to opt for the Peace Talk. The Government of India too managed to bargain the price of the blood of thousands of Nagas. Now she is offering us the partially cooked, probably uncooked sovereignty in the form of shared sovereignty. Even if NSCN (IM) is of the opinion that the accord won’t question the sovereignty of Naga Nation, I am afraid that it will stretch our struggle for freedom for another century. The accord is finalizing in few days, but I haven’t found out yet the actual meaning of the so called shared sovereignty. I never did imagine sovereignty can be shared.
NSCN (IM) tried to pile up all the Naga inhabited areas scattered all over the northeast India through the Peace Accord. That was a very nice idea even if it was not successful. Whether we like it or not, we have to forget our fellow brothers for another meal once again. In the beginning, the Peace Accord was reasonable enough, but it became thinner and thinner with the removal of Greater Nagalim from the accord and now the apex bodies of Nagaland are inducing the Naga political groups to finalize the accord without separate constitution and flag.
We imagine the freedom and the sovereignty are in the hands of India and it’s far beyond our reach. But the actual freedom and sovereignty lie within us. First of all, we need to free ourselves from corruption, greed and hunger for money. If we can’t free ourselves from these, even if the India gives us the freedom right away, we will die of corruption and Nagaland will be no less than hell. Secondly, we need to unite; if the all the Nagas are united as one; no force on earth can destroy us. I wander, what if the spirit of honesty and oneness initiated by the pioneers of freedom struggle was maintained till date. If so, the history of Nagas would have been different.
