Had my father Repatemsü Naga been alive today, I would have been better informed about the reasons and the actual events (furnished with dates) that led to the brutal murder of my eldest paternal uncle ‘Lt. Yanger Naga’ who ‘was killed at Hasik village in December, 1979’ (quoted from B. Pashen’s ‘NNC Responds to NSCN-IM, that was published in the local dailies, dated the 02nd of October, 2012).
This may sound ironical, but honestly, Naga political issue is not my cup of tea---I wish not to get lost in its labyrinth; but coming across my *Oba Ümba’s name in the print, I felt a strong, wilful urge to share my blatant thoughts...albeit armed with an incomplete story and aided by a fragmented recollection of my childhood impressions.
My **Oba, a true Naga patriot through and through, was zealously interested in everything about Naga freedom struggle. As a child, I remember listening in dispassionately to the Naga-issue-conversations he used to engage in with his friends.
Forgive me, if my memory is being deceitful; but this is what it has to say:
With the prayers and blessings of the Naga people, some NNC freedom fighters journeyed to China to procure arms and ammunitions. This China-trip suffused them with a divergent nationalistic streak, and they returned home laden with an alien, unconventional Pandora’s Box--- Socialism... (a tool used by the farsighted Indians in brainwashing the naïve Nagas. I salute the Indians on their success in creating a gory faction-ridden Naga future)... which was downright unacceptable for the Nagas at home. Hence, the leaders of the China-trip were kept under ‘house-arrest’, I believe.
(Now I wonder whether they were rebelliously adamant about adopting ‘Socialism’ so as to result in the ‘house-arrest’. What followed speaks volumes!)
So this fateful Pandora’s Box opened up a chain reaction of atrocities upon innocent Nagas. Yes, what ensued was the diabolical carnage of one’s own brethren. And my uncle and his fellow comrades were victims of the inhuman annihilation! It is said they were made to dig their own graves; and my uncle’s dying words were ‘GOD BLESS MY NAGALAND!’
(They were murdered because they remained loyal to their leaders and NNC Manifesto and refused to embrace ‘Socialism’, weren’t they? A rhetorical question deserves no answer.)
My grandfather S. Watimeren ‘tabooed’ the words, yes, words ‘Isak’ and ‘Muivah’ within our family. Even on his death-bed, he couldn’t forgive the men (men?) who murdered his most trusted son.
And they remain ‘Unforgiven’!
Call me a cheeky fool carelessly walking on eggs, but Naga problem is chimerical, for God has unleashed His fury and wrath upon the Nagas. Unless the murderers own up their crimes and atone for their unworthy-of-forgiveness sins, even a solution with the GOI would give birth to more complex problems among the Naga tribes.
As I have stated earlier, I am not au fait with Naga politics, and I intend not to engage in some airy war of words with the high savants on this matter. Question me not, lest my provocative silence deafens/blinds your ears/eyes.
I rest my (and my Oba Ümba’s) case!
Note: i) In B. Pashen’s ‘NNC Responds to NSCN-IM’, my uncle’s name appears as ‘Lt. Yanger Ao’; but he would have preferred to be identified as ‘Lt. Yanger Naga’--- this is how he was known as to his contemporaries and is spoken about even today. Even his old books bear ‘Yanger Naga’.
ii)*Oba Ümba: a respectful term of address to one’s elder paternal uncle(s) in Mokokchung Village dialect.
iii)**Oba... Father
iv) I owe my profound appreciation to B. Pashen for providing me an impetus to write ‘this’.
Longkumer Arensen Naga
Mokokchung
