Aheli Moitra
Mohsin Hussainy and family drove their car for 6 days, covering 600Km per day, from Pune in Maharashtra to Dimapur in Nagaland to attend the 2nd National Peace Convention. The Convention was held in Dimapur from January 30-February 1, 2016. The family’s objective was not just to be part of a movement for peace in the sub-continent but also themselves witness a region, and its people, who rarely make it into the positive imagination of the sub-continent.
At the Convention, Ahidur Rahman, a leader of the Muslim community in Dimapur, also the recipient of the Peace Award for his contribution towards peace building in, and after, March 2015, explained to Hussainy how peaceful it is for all communities to live in Nagaland. A picture far removed from the picture of a place teeming with “rebels, insurgents and terrorists” created of the region by the State, and the media that supports such portrayal.
Social activist Tushar Gandhi, the great grandson of MK (Mahatma) Gandhi, requested the gathering at the Convention, from 16 states all over India, to refrain from using terms like “rebels, insurgents and terrorists.” We must have the ability to be sensitive to the Naga struggle, and understand it by the values and virtues it promotes. Moved by the State militarisation of the Naga region, Gandhi said that today, India may be a socialist and secular State but definitely not a non violent one, as envisaged by the Mahatma.
It is, thus, up to us, the people, to change things. A change in our perception towards each other, as Indian and Naga people, can begin to invert the politics of hate to the pursuit of love. Thanks to multi-cultural peace initiatives like the National Peace Convention, the people of India have now come to the Naga people on the subject of peace, making space for each to change our perceptions, of ourselves and each other.
In that, it would have been helpful if the Convention facilitated the participants to visit Naga villages/communities and hear their stories before the Convention began so they could be equipped on the peace initiatives to take up on a people-to-people level in the future.
Peace is a complex idea and needs to be fine tuned as per context. Staying behind closed doors offers little by way of context. It is only through understanding ground realities that people, organisations, communities, movements and the media can work hand-in-hand to make peace a daily reality.
As for the fourth estate, instead of fighting a war for the State, media outlets need to wage peace.
In the Naga case itself, as Dr. Aküm Longchari, Editor of The Morung Express pointed out in a session, the media must stop restricting the peace process to the negotiating table. We, as media persons, must be able to get down to the grassroots, and project the people’s idea of peace, and bring them to the negotiating table for leaders to fine tune these into a political-social-economic solution. What do people scattered over the Naga borderlands want by way of peace? What do Naga women hope for? What are the dreams of the youth?
The path to peace can be traversed through a collaboration of the people and the media in speaking and relaying the truth for the sake of justice.
Peace filled comments can be shared at moitramail@yahoo.com
