It was a hazy day on August 14 this year a vestige of Naga nationalists gathered in my village local ground and unfurled the Naga national flag coinciding with the Open Soccer Championship under the auspices of the Khrieo Club of the village. The following day on 15th August, I watch the celebration at New Delhi through television. The celebration at New Delhi was pomp and circumstance whereas in my village it was very mundane and prosaic. With these two events in mind I was vacillating with my identity because of the very fact that I am a bona fide Naga by birth with an Indian citizenship. Nevertheless the tinged of patriotic feelings resonates within me with pride and prejudice as a Naga with the iota of truth I know about the present Naga freedom fighters and the good history of the Nagas. But on the larger horizon, I went to pieces with doubts and confusion. The whitewashing of this small truth upon myself never suffice my doubts and confusion rather it makes me to live in hypocrisy and dissimulation. Thus I looked into myself honestly surrendering all my insular and chauvinistic attachment and in full neutrality I tried to find out the real truth about myself and my people.
I am sad to see our struggle for Independence from India has eventually become independence from God. We seem to have sinks into oblivion to the ploy of the Indian political play and enjoyed all kinds of comforts and material possessions facilitated by the Indians government. We seem to be enjoying and satisfied with a semblance of peace in the form of ceasefire agreement with India in parallel with the factional fighting among ourselves. The land is flooded with blood and tears, liquor and liquidity. The overflow of money from the streams of India government has become opium to the Naga nationalists, churches and to all and sundry. Perhaps Nagaland is a dry state because I see no living water, river of peace, fountain of joy and ocean of love.
Whereas on the brighter side, Nagaland is Christianized state with a banner “Nagaland for Christ” highly lifted up. Peace and unity are the watchword of the people. The land is overwhelmed with Christian rituals and religiosity in the form of prayer and fasting, singing and dancing, preaching and teaching, prophesying and healing, giving and taking and so on. The churches are growing tremendously with gorgeous and awe-inspiring infrastructures. Besides, there are chockfull Christian ministries, prayer centers, and institutions. Even secular ministries and institutions are badly hotchpotch with Christian rituals and traditions. Every Naga is a churchgoers and the name of Jesus Christ is the household word. In spite of all these, I feel the silence and the forsakenness of God
My vista of Naga nationalism is blurred with the fratricidal killing that is imbued with hatred, abhorrence, extortion and so on. Candidly, I don’t find any reason to be patriotic in this kind of situation. In the lopsided scales of fear, anxiety, apprehension, dismay, concern, doubt, suspicion, uneasiness, worry, panic and attachment tilts more heavily on the Naga nationalism rather than India’s. The forlorn hope of peace and unity among various factions and tribes and the implacable hatred among the Naga leaders is indubitably giving maximum advantages to the Indians. If at all, anyone is happy with the present Naga situation, I am sorry to say, they are in the fool’s paradise. Personally, I am not happy and I don’t find any reason to be proud of as a Naga.
In this hopelessness, may I beseech to all the Naga leaders to come under the feet of Jesus Christ. Remember! Jonah ran away from God but he was peacefully sleeping in the ship wherein the ship was buffeted by the windstorm and there was lot of panic and commotion inside the ship. The problem with Jonah was he was out of touch with the situation. Are we already asleep and inured with the situation and cannot hear the firing of the gun, the cry of the people and the voice of God calling us to come to Him. As a human being the situation makes me so pessimistic and cynical about the scenario of our struggle for independence for which I castigates myself. Honestly, I am a confused man with many unanswered questions about the present situation. I won’t be surprised if thousands of Nagas shared the same with me. Help us! By coming together as one in the name of Jesus Christ….… And every one of us says “AMEN”
Thenunu Lohe, Sakraba Village
