Mayson Kaping (Akhan)
The communal problem at its base was more politically-motivated than religiously oriented. The danger is from the communalism and not so much from external aggression, because people tend to unite when there is external aggression but the communalism tends to be divided among people themselves. A countryman or a concern citizen of a nation love to live in unison irrespective of tribes etc. while the black sheep of a family love to live in division which is against the will of the humanitarian ethos.
It is widely understood that communalism in India was born, nurtured and promoted by the British imperialism as a deliberate design to sow dissensions and to served the “divide et Imperia” now the dreadful disease is effected to the Nagas as a whole. Exempli gratia, “the quit notice” to the Tangkhul Naga community is again threatening to all the concerned Naga NGOs, student bodies, churches and the Naga society in general.
It disrupts the pattern of co-existence in our multi-tribal fraternity. By killing each other in mindless communal strife, we are in effect killing ourselves – killing the Naga nation, killing our own larger family, and killing our glorious heritage of humanism; ultimately weakening the stability, development, national security, pride and patriotism of the people. Again it creates a false consciousness and seeks to counter on false promises one citizen against another and thereby weaken the structure of national fraternity.
During the British regime in India, the British Indian government remained the biggest employer to which the educated youth hopefully looked for their means of livelihood. This enormous patronage – in higher and subordinate services – was cleverly used by the rulers to promote rivalry and discord among different sections of society. The nationalist leaders were fully aware of the mischievous character of this bait but the hunger – rather compulsion – for loaves and fishes blinded to its dangerous potentialities. As the maxim said “HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF” it is quiet true here, that the above mentioned history is repeating in the present Nagalim political scenario. Thus Nagas need to stand up under one strength, one move, one words, one single entity for the prosperous future and for the sake of the new generation to come. If united, we can support each other; if not, the effect of one against the other would tend to the destruction and downfall of both.
As we know, progress and social change are the enemy of communalism, and all this matter begins from small part or section just as the theory of “Karl Popper’s piecemeal social engineering”, therefore it is the people of the society that needs to take responsibility to promote social progress, social change-peace and to suppress the communal act because communalism is both anti-national and anti-human.
As appeared on the October 16 2006 Northeast Sun publication
