Some of those who voted YES had this to say:
• Yes, yet just a little explanation. To be taken seriously - most of our people are being brainwashed with ideas and values of non-Christian faith, culture and materialism – which are aimed at distorting the Christian fabrics and values in the minds of the people with all possible systematic lies, ill motives and designs by the enemies (ill motivated pagans) – learned scholars, sadhus and swamis, ill magicians, fashionable icons, easy money, opportunities, etc etc. And thus weakening our God given potentials and sowing the seeds of biased-characters, corruption, violence, hatred towards Christian ideas and values, and fight among us. Fear of God, sin, lying, etc (in attitude and character) are fast vanishing, a dangerous trend for the future. Now, our minds are finding it hard to adapt or accept ideas that are Christian based, positive and don’t syne with the pagans. So before its too late-lets start instilling, building and adapting the Christian value based ideas, cultures and traditions, i.e. ‘before paganism brainwash our people and society, distort our history and rewrite our history’ – a matter of grave concern.
• Yes, as far as younger generations are concerned. The die hard attitude of what ever I think right is right and nothing else, of our over aged bosses is actually the main hurdle in our tracks of progress. The earlier these bosses retire the more innovative and more progressive our Naga society will be.
• Slowly, as the older generation moves on, there are signs that the younger generation of Nagas are slowly finding the courage and the space to share their opinions and to express their aspirations for the Nagas. It may still be in the infant stage, but at least it is heartening to know that the younger Naga generations are learning from what is happening around the world and bringing back their knowledge and experience to be used in their home situation. I hope this will grow manifolds.
• Slowly, with the help of the local media and with the new ideas being pushed to the forefront, the Naga society is being forced to accept the changing times. I wish the Nagas were better prepared to accept new ideas, but our mentality is chained to only our history and this has been negative. Still then, the media is playing a key role in sharing new ideas and concept and this has really done wonders.
• Coz the Nagas too r human being who, by the grace of God may have humanity...
• Yes, very much. The young generation is brimming with new ideas, to make Nagaland a better place. But the craze for govt. jobs, full fledged terrorism by our fellow Nagas in arms, corruptions in all areas...etcs... contributes in killing our ideas. I wish we'd jus encourage one another..and do something new for a change..and Nagaland is seriously in need of double a Big change.
• But can we forsake the old values and the nation stand of the whole Nagas on the alter of the privileged few?
Some of those who voted NO had this to say:
• Not at all. Nagas are very slow and stubborn towards new ideas. Generally speaking, Nagas are stuck to the past, all they do is talk about their history, but you hardly find anyone who talks about new ideas and how they can develop their future. This is one of the reasons why Nagas are not developing as a society, they are chained to their past and it is destroying them.
• Doesn't seem like it. Till now, the entire Naga politics is based only on the past history. Both underground and overground politics harps on the past and even the public focus and attention is on the past, no wonder the leaders take advantage of this and misuse the prevailing situation for their advantage. The irony is that the leaders dont even allow anyone to talk about the future. It is on the past that they benefit the most. They are afraid of the future where new idea and new thinking will guide Naga politics.
• The older generation are too rigid. They want to stick to their old ideas and belief but i am hopeful of the young generation.
• Absolutely a big No.... if so Nagas would have been different
• When Nagas are preoccupied with the past history all the time, there is no room to think about how to improve for the future. We are so engrossed about thinking about yesterday that we are forgetting to think about tomorrow.
• Nagas are not open minded people Nagas are good in gossiping.
• Most of the Naga leaders are still stuck with the ideologies of the post second world war era and are refusing to acknowledge the realities of the 21st century. Their ideas are outdated, yet they refused to change their stand, which is a great stumbling block for the younger generation Nagas to move ahead in line with other developing communities. It is high time, that we forget about the past and move ahead with the new world.
• Because we Nagas r full of jealousy and don't give a damn abt other's innovative ideas. There is a saying, ' all evolution and revolution starts in stomach and ends in stomach'.
• nop i am sorry sir nagas sucks coz 80% of nagas heart is fill with jealousy and hatred look at ta **** politicians they are good for nothing. development money ha they suck out i dont know why filling they pocket with cash and building their houses ha buying expensive cars live in a luxurious life and just look at some nagas pple blah blah even ta educated person have to buy a gov job with lakhs of rupees. all i want to say is that nagas must unite together. look a new election camping all ta youth are there ha just for a lumpsum of money twat u sucks youths mc rum and beer is that ur future naga boys do u want beer rum cash or development in nagaland youths i am asking u shamless youth think for ur future young nagas boys and girls.
• The current state of affairs will tell you that Nagas are close minded and everything is taken negatively. Even what may be good for the whole society may be considered bad. There is no proper understanding among Nagas and this is the biggest problem and this is created because people don’t want to share openly and honestly about what matters. People only talk about their official stand as a organization, tribe, or union. But there is more to it than just the official stand. This need for understanding can be taken care of if only people were open to new ideas.
• Nagas at this juncture are too suspicious of each other. Even the most innocent idea thought in the best of intention can be taken otherwise. Nagas have this attitude of ‘mine’ and unless it is mine, the other is not good. With this kind of mindset, how does one expect the society to be open to new ideas.
Some of those who voted OTHERS had this to say:
• There is a definite generation gap, and unfortunately Naga society being patriarchal, its the decisions of the older generation that prevails. This does not mean that the younger Naga generations dont have a mind of their own. In fact the your Nagas are more upto date and are well versed with the political and economic situation around the world. The voices of the younger Nagas need to grow louder and clearer.
• Nagas may accept new ideas but where is the application?
• Nagas are pretty self-centric and we fail to appreciate the compulsion to adopt and adapt to new ideas. We think that only Naga ideas are good and that is all that we need. But in this fast and changing world, there is the need for Nagas to let our ideas grow by embracing new ideas from other parts of the world.
• This will happen only when the present generation has gone to their graves and the younger generation takes leadership responsibilities.
• When there is no democracy in the fullest sense, where then can there be openness and willingness to new ideas. What is missing is the absence of real democratic practices and values in Naga society.
• Its like teaching an old dog new tricks. The Naga populace and their so-called leaders at all levels of politics, civil societies, church etc as they sometimes by and large project themselves to be adaptable and receptive to new ideas but not strong and deep enough to pave the way for the real change that we truly need to see in our backsliding society. The time has come for us to look beyond our narrow mental horizon and think out of the box to get ourselves moving in order to break the present society free from the shackles of parochial mindset, hypothesis, dependency attitude, etc. By contrast, one ought to take note of Naga youngsters how despite being grown up without exceptional role models in their lives keep thriving on self perseverance, dogged grit and determination in their respective fields. One can hope for the best and believe our better days are ahead when these young ones take the helm of the state not a long time in the future.
