Khekiye K. Sema IAS (Retd)
Thilixu Village, Dimapur
Fellow Naga Fathers, Mothers, brothers, sisters and all our little children wherever you are…I have no Christmas cards or a piece of meat to offer you at this great festive time of Christmas other than to wish you all a very discerning and a meaningful Christmas…to stand resolutely as true Christians for our future and the future of our children. This is no longer a time to silently remain in fear…knowing well that our future hangs in a balance. Our action or inaction today can either light up our Christmas trees beautifully for all times to come or douse this light forever. The choice is ours to prayerfully make…and to make it now without fear or favour like a fair minded Christian should!
Beyond the spiritual realm the Nagas must also remember this at the top of our human agenda here on earth: As long as the Indo-Naga political issue remain unresolved, our future and the future of our children will never see true wholesome progress as seen around the globe. There can be no real growth in an environment of unbridled taxation being imposed by our 'National Workers'. I still dare say that the Nagas are not averse to paying "One National tax' as long as it is systematically controlled and rationalised. However, controlled rationality is but a wishful thinking in the face of so many Factions…all claiming to be fighting for 'sovereignty'… a self-perpetuating kind of sovereignty that only concerns their personal comfort zones…not ours…as is plainly seen on the ground. In simple terms our so-called National Workers have literally reduced Naga National dream into bands of armed Mafias instilling fear and uncompromisingly waving their respective Factional Flags at the cost of the struggling common man. This is our common knowledge…but silenced by fear.
The State Government is equally a helpless spectator over the doings of the more powerful 'Factional shadow Governments' whose only strength lies in instilling FEAR in the minds of the people with their guns…sans rationality. The State Government seems to have reached a point of seriously believing in the dictum: "If you can't beat them…join them" and seems to be more competitively inclined to harvest ill gotten personal gains amidst utter confusion where transparency or accountability does not stand for much. The rule of law in Nagaland is but a fiction. The criminals roam the streets freely while those who complain against them go to jail. Nagas are well and truly wedded to the Biblical saying: "money is the source of all evil" and it seems like our National issue is no longer worth a dime. It has been reduced to lip servicing with the State Government proclaiming to be a facilitator without facilitating anything worthwhile or tangible.
At this critical juncture, Nagas are expected to assess the ground reality very carefully and make our judgement call truthfully without fear or favour. Couple of crucial issues are no longer a matter of speculation: (1) Sovereignty as understood by our forefathers is no longer on the bargaining table. Rather than tell the Nagas truthfully, NSCN (IM) has muddied the waters with their new definition of 'sovereignty' called "Shared sovereignty" and still refusing to share the truth with the people that this "shared sovereignty" is within the Indian Constitution. Take a note of this that no Prime Minister of any Country will ever sit over an agreement that undermines the very Constitution that he/she has sworn to protect. Mr. Narinder Modi, the Prime Minister of India, is no exception. He was sitting right there on 3rd August 2015 watching the proceedings between NSCN (IM) and Mr. Ravi. This is the simple truth. Further, if 'Framework Agreement' has been honestly brokered, there ought to be no real reason to hide its contents from the stakeholders. It appears that their "shared sovereignty" effort is now limited to adding or subtracting a word or a phrase or a sentence to Article 371 A that they have been condemning all these years. (2) The issue of "Integration" is also not a subject of negotiation as has been clarified by GoI over and over again. That the NSCN (IM) has come up with an absurd notion of Pan Naga Hoho as a 'Statutory body' over the existing State Government is more or less an admission that they have failed to salvage not only "Sovereignty" but also "Integration". From everything that has been happening thus far, GoI seems to be more troubled in finding a solution as to which part of the map they can fit General Secretary NSCN (IM) without his 'loss of face'…knowing well that the General Secretary and his tribesmen can never find a legitimate space within Nagaland in the absence of 'Integration'. The real solution for Nagaland appears secondary for the GoI, judging by their insincere lethargy for over 20 years. Meanwhile the Nagas must continue to suffer the insufferable …the inglorious multiple taxation of all the Factions fighting for their kind of individualistic 'sovereignty' that does not include the masses other than be taken advantage of.
The much touted Prime Ministerial level of talk in a Third Country without precondition has instead been reduced to the level of talk with a mere Bureaucrat and with every conceivable precondition being put on the table in our very own Third Country backyard. Indeed we seem to have made much downhill progress. If so, this finally brings us to the mother of all questions: Then what are we fighting for? What are we paying tax for? Every little endeavour of our young generation has been stifled by this unpalatable taxation. How long are the people expected to bear this cross? One has often stated that the Naga National issue is not the sole prerogative of the National Workers. If the subject of Sovereignty and Integration is no longer an issue, our representative State Government ought to review its stand as being only a facilitator and really get proactive by generating mass participation and movement to firstly convince all Factions to work together under one united house and then create a conducive atmosphere to make GoI sit up and listen to that 'one voice' of the Nagas for once in their lives. Our division has only strengthened the hands of GoI to belittle and ignore the Naga cause. It might sound like an insurmountable proposition, but the times have changed. The NSCN (IM) ought to know by now that their self-centred arrogance of wanting to singlehandedly bring home a solution under whatever pretext of defiled 'National principles'…is no longer relevant. In the absence of legitimate participation of all the other Factions of Nagaland as equals the essence of acceptability will continue to be questioned by all the other Factions without doubt. This singlehanded solution is unlikely to usher in that long desired peace.
This is but a thought being proffered for all concerned Nagas to ponder over during this festive season and start letting your voice be heard from every corner of Nagaland and regenerate a movement that can change the present way of thinking and acting like an underdog. We sorely need courage to stand together for truth.
Finally, I take this privilege to wish one and all a thoughtful and prayerful Merry Christmas. May the light of the Holy Spirit of Christmas guide us through the fog.
