Aheli Moitra
The Naga Republic Day on March 21 this year gave a fresh momentum for thought. Two national groups redefined each of their ideologies, bringing a much needed direction towards the Naga future.
On the one hand was the National Socialist Council of Nagalim, otherwise referred to as the NSCN (IM). Kilo Kilonser Rh. Raising said, among other things, that the Nagas have now come to the stage of “nation building;” of “material, mental and spiritual development.” This demands, from the Naga people, a change from a “rural mindset” to that of the “urban.” A move is required, he said, from the “land of scarcity and unproductivity” to “greener pastures.” Urbanisation, for this ideology, is the beginning of development.
What is urbanisation though, as unfurling round the world? In short, it is the accelerated capitalisation of space. It is the conversion of a geographical area into ‘capital’ or a resource, every inch of which can be opened up for trade (real estate, roads, businesses, etc). The people with the best access to this capital would either be those who cashed in on it first—as in the non Nagas of Dimapur—or those who hold power—as in bureaucrats and politicians of Kohima.
For urbanisation to take place inequality is necessary—profits are not equally shared and exploitation rules a competitive market. Urbanisation feeds on inequities that exist in the world—of class, race, tribe, caste, environment—which are moved to convenient geographies without resolving the issues therein. On a micro scale, the injustice of these scenarios stand enhanced and become entrenched. In large cities, the effects of these may be seen through the extreme levels of pollution, exploitation of labour, contamination, poverty etc.
It is, thus, only for a few that urbanisation opens up the “green pastures” of material development alongside spiritual and mental development. The rest are left to scavenge their own. This is exactly what has been happening in Nagaland’s cities today.
But uneven development and urbanisation have also reached the farthest corners of the Naga lands thanks to technology and the accumulation of wealth—wood is logged in the darkest of forests using latest technology and rare gems are mined in the thickest of river beds, all by rich Naga men. This uneven development has not just thrown up wealth for a few but also caused out migration for the most—people are leaving dignified lives on the fields and villages to become, for instance, poorly paid workers or debt ridden alcoholics in the city. The backward investment of knowledge (e.g.: English language, chemical fertilizers, irrelevant seeds) and wealth (e.g.: centrally sponsored schemes) accumulated in the cities has changed climate, food and culture in the villages.
This, however, may not be the kind of urbanisation the NSCN (IM) is aiming at. So how will Naga people chart a just future in a world governed by unjust systems? The answer to that may lie in the “building of bridges” that NSCN (IM) Chairperson Isak Chishi Swu hinted at, perhaps in this case with the Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN)—both bound by the Covenant of Reconciliation.
In a statement on Naga Republic Day, Brig. (Retd.) S. Singya, Kedahge of the FGN, gets to the roots of how the Naga struggle presents a natural anti-thesis to the processes of urbanisation at work the world over. In today’s modern world, he writes, we have become divided in defining who we were (e.g.: rural) and what we must be now (e.g.: urban). We are cowed down by modernism and ideology that says “the world is changing and we too must change.”
Prophetically, the Kedahge reiterates, “knowledge and adaptation is important as a nation but we must not import knowledge that may destroy the fabric of our nationalism. We must...not allow our oppressors to use civilisation and advancement as tools to suppress our rights to live as a free nation.” For the FGN, a free and sovereign nation is one with no tribe, native or indigenous persons, but all (equal) citizens of the Republic of Nagaland.
In this ideology, advancement of the Naga people comes through drawing knowledge systems and processes from the rural and injecting it into the urban, creating its own form of urbanisation. Here, seed banks are modern platforms of investment and manufacturing is small, pollution is reduced and education (in, say, a mother dialect of a mother culture) empowering. Development, then, can be placed firmly in the hands of the people.
The combined application of both ideologies makes the interdependence of equals a refreshing possibility—this is what the Naga struggle presumably hoped for in its inception and continues to give hope to many other oppressed peoples of the world. May this building of bridges continue.
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