It is surprise to hear over the proposal of the government of India to promote Nagames as an official language of Nagaland. We do not know exactly, how Nagamese was developed in Nagaland. But it is learnt that it was developed for the purpose of trade and commerce between the people of plains and the Nagas. Today, Nagamese is very important in Nagaland for communicating among the people of Nagaland. It is used even in the Church, it cannot be stopped, so let it be dwelled in Nagaland as communicating language. But it cannot be an official language of Nagaland. Because. Nagamese is a collection of many regional languages of India, such as Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, English and many other dialects and it has no proper grammar.
Though English has been made up of several countries languages such as Latin, Portugal Greek, German, Italy, France, India, Anglo-Saxon etc, but it is an international language and it can be communicated to the people of the World. But Nagamese is a mixture of Assamese, Bengali, and many regional languages of India, and we don`t find even a single word of the Nagas in it, and it can be used within Nagaland only as a communicating language, and according to my speculation one day it will dominate original dialects of the Nagas, for which, Nagamese as an official language of Nagaland is a serious issue.
We should know this. (1) Why do we need to learn English? We need to learn English because it is an international language. (2) Why do we need to learn Hindi? We need to learn Hindi because it is our National Language. (3) Why do we need to learn Nagamese? We need to learn Nagamese because it is a communicating language of Nagaland. (4).Why do we need to learn our mother tongue? We need to learn our mother tongue because it is our identity. Therefore, Nagamese is just a communicating language of the people of Nagaland; it is not our mother tongue. It is not our identity; Therefore, Nagas need to think seriously over this issue. It is not easy to accept the proposal of the government of India to promote Nagamese as an official language of Nagaland. It is hoped that the government of India would look into this matter and respect the sentiment of the Naga people and cancel the proposal to promote Nagamese as an official language of Nagaland.
P. Inaho Yeptho, Pastor of Nikiqhe Village.
