Morung Express News
July 29
Dimapur: The Solidarity Rally on Naga integration movement that took place on July 28 at the City Tower junction registered poor attendance with the total attendees numbering barely a thousand. The rally was organized by a conglomerate of the Dimapur Naga Students’ Union, the Naga Council, Dimapur, the Naga Women Hoho, Dimapur and the GB’s Association, Dimapur.
The main reason pertaining to the lack of massive public support for the rally was that it was conducted at very short notice. When contacted, the General Secretary of the DNSU Meijiang Gonmei commented that the demonstration was staged without prior publicity due to ‘certain’ circumstances that had cropped up. He explained that the rally was organized to send feelers to Delhi in order to expedite the dialogue process being held between the Government of India and the NSCN-IM.
One participant said that the abrupt decision of the NGOs to call for the rally as well as the inconvenient timing of the event resulted in the poor turn-up of participants. However, another participant remarked that the paucity in numbers was a reflection of the disunity among Nagas. It may be mentioned that a considerable section of the crowd that attended the rally comprised non-locals.
An interesting aspect that was discovered by The Morung Express was the dissimilar manner in which rallies are staged in Nagaland and Manipur. Sources from Manipur revealed that the rallies staged in Nagaland were comparatively different from the ones carried out in Manipur.
It appears that in Manipur, before a rally is staged, signatures of leaders of organizations, residential areas and other prominent social activists are taken to confirm their support for whatever cause a rally is to be staged. This is done to ensure that one and all are committed to the cause they are demonstrating for or against.
Another reason that can be given is that the people bear a united and collective responsibility in the event of any untoward incident that occurs in the course of demonstrating a protest.
