It continues to be the deep felt anguish and yearning of the Nagas to move from a point of uncertainty to stability and from fragile peace to one where sustainable peace is with dignity. The challenge of course is to invoke the spirit of critical imagination so that Nagas become confident as a people to creatively explore a strategic praxis of transformation. While it is crucial that Nagas are hopeful in their pursuit for peace with dignity, hope should however not be confused with strategic planning to achieve their goals.
Hope can be said to be the collective optimism and belief to fulfill a stipulated destination. Hope is fundamental in enabling a people to propel themselves towards their destiny with self-confidence and resolve. Hope therefore is a state of consciousness that realizes the imperativeness to move from inaction to action. Yet, hope cannot and is not to be misinterpreted as a substitute to strategic planning. After all, hope is not an end; it is simply a condition of heightened consciousness and realization which has moved the human spirit to do the extraordinary.
It will be fair to say that hope is therefore an essential virtue for the Nagas in their efforts to transcend the prevailing dogmatic status quo. Indeed it is hope that has heightened the collective yearning to want a fuller humanity. Nonetheless, just hope in itself is incomplete. In actuality, it is in the very nature of hope to be accompanied by an imaginative process of creation that demands a strategic process of moving from the present to the future. It is in the area of strategic planning that Nagas as a people have collectively failed; only to have its hopes belied by the conditions of time.
Only an unimaginative mind unwilling to engage in critical dialogue will function on the erroneous assumption that hope will carry the people through to the destination. But it is not too late to salvage the process of creating an initiative that would help put together an imaginative and strategic framework that would once again give the Nagas some sense of hope to construct a pathway towards a shared humanity. Pertinent to this process is the need to engaged in critical dialogue and collectively identify the various ingredients required for Nagas to move forward.
Essentially, there is no doubt that Nagas need to move from the prevailing monologue to a democratic space of dialogue where the diverse voices that make up the Naga realm are engaged in a serious process of self-criticism that would lead to remedial procedures, which should ensure the re-establishment of the Naga ethos of life. This demands working at different levels of society on multiple issues. For instance, just limiting initiatives to resolution and reconciliation is not sufficient. In fact to sustain the initiative towards both these two objectives, the need for reconstruction is of vital necessity.
It is not hope that will transport us to resolution, reconciliation and reconstruction of Naga society and ethos of life. What is required is strategic planning by way of critical dialogue and prophetic imagination. But yes, to make this dialogue possible within and without the society, it is important that the spirit of hope guides this process which is meant to lead us to the future.
