Ngaraipam Mahongnao
No nation can survive without determining their national interest as survivability of a nation depends much on identifying what interest will best serve the interest of a nation. National interest and public opinion dictate the nature of a long term as well as short term efforts in policy making. For every nation, there are certain irreducible cores of national interest at any given time which is called the vital interest of a nation, which is considered so vital that a state is willing to go to war to safeguard one’s national interest even though war is not the only option. To determine what constitutes the vital national interest is all together a difficult task, however certain issues like protection and preservation of their independence, territorial integrity and symbolic value of national prestige are considered basic and irreducible vital national interest and is true till today.
The status and quality of a nation depend much on the capacity and quality of the citizen residing within the country. Historically speaking, powerful countries are not exactly powerful just because they have natural resources, infrastructure, technology, arms and weapons, but the quality of the citizens which manipulate the available resources to translate it into useable or tangible instrument in the furtherance of one’s national interest which dictates the policy of a respective nation. Ultimately, it is the people which make nation a powerful entity. A nation frequented by defection and infiltration of the enemies within the system cannot be a strong nation. Certain nation or state or particular community can be susceptible to such kind of characteristics and such kind of characteristics are so internalise so much so that hardly ever can they realise the damage of weakening the very foundation of nation building. Sometimes an emotion can even overwhelm the entire community en bloc which smacks off the very rationality of a clear vision. No nation can be strong unless the people are mentally, physically, spiritually, morally, socially, economically, technologically, militarily and nationalistically prepare to defend their nation. These exact conditions confront the very existence of a Naga nation today.
As the Naga Peoples’ Convention to be assembled on 1st July in Senapati (Tahamzan) is inching closer, every citizen of Nagalim must pull up their sleeve and be ready to defend and keep certain things aware.
Firstly, every Naga citizen must keep in mind that we are a colonised country under the political and administrative subjugation of India. This colonisation and premeditated arbitrary division is killing the very basic relationship of brotherhood and sense of nationhood and the present situation is unacceptable to the people of Nagalim. Our glory can be restored only by unifying the fragmented Naga homeland.
Secondly, every Naga should be aware that we are at constant war with the colonial master in different form, either in the form of actual physical war or cultural, political, economic, social, moral, psychological and intellectual war; and the danger is that, certain individuals and leaders are already toeing the line of the oppressor; becoming their spokesman.
Thirdly, real reconciliation and unification should begin first from within the civil societies as has been initiated by Naga Hoho, UNC, ANSAM and NSF irrespective of the artificial political boundaries of all Naga Hills which should be followed by various revolutionary factions base on the credibility of the leadership to lead the nation without any premeditated motive.
Fourthly, the very basic exigency of reconciliation and unification itself has become a political weapon by anti-Naga voices to weaken the real unification process of the entire Naga community, emotionally and territorially by deliberately prompting and putting the cart before the horse thereby jamming the entire process of real unification. The very basic exigency of pushing unification therefore cannot be initiated without a clear-cut road map for real reconciliation which should be followed by emotional and territorial unification of the entire Naga community, or else, defeat the very purpose of this endeavour thus far. It is impossible for the train to run until the rail track has been laid just as without the road map the unification process cannot be initiated as there can be no mistake this time.
Fifthly, there should be a clear-cut dichotomy between the issue of reconciliation and unification of the Nagas on the one hand and the negotiated settlement of the Indo-Naga political issues on the other. The roadblock to reconciliation and unification should not be a stumbling block to negotiated settlement. For which, reconciliation and unification of the Nagas is only a process to internal settlement within; which is a beginning in itself, thus internal adjustments are in actuality infinite, where as Indo-Naga political settlement should be a permanent solution which is an end in itself which can not be indefinitely delayed
Sixthly, there should be no confusion for every Naga citizen, irrespective of the boundaries, that economic development is not an alternative answer for political sovereignty lest it may hijack the very cause Nagas are fighting for. Nagas demand for political sovereignty is not an offshoot of economic underdevelopment but due to outright political subjugation and denial of historical rights which every Naga must enjoy like any other nations.
Seventhly, every Naga citizen must know that they have an obligation towards one’s own state to which he or she is aspiring to live in, because it is only through this aspiration to live under one state which is going to
make Naga a nation. One can not be a Naga by citizen and at the same time, a Manipuri or a Pakistani or an Indian by loyalty.
Considering the fact that Nagas are today fighting a different war unlike the past, the enemy itself has surfaced in the form of our own people, speaking the same langauge, eating the same food habit and lifestyle, advocating the same reconciliation and unification, fighting the same cause yet speaking different tones. Perhaps, India has realised that the war to defeat the Nagas is not a war between India and Nagalim but Nagas versus Nagas, and it appears that few section of the so-called nationalist are eagerly and deliberately embracing it in favour of the adversaries posing threat to the Nagas. The real danger lies in the fact that when people fail or are unable to identify the thin line dividing the real nationalist and the traitor or the real enemy within, the fall of the nation begins. It is therefore for this reason, unification of the revolutionaries should be brought forth with extreme cautiousness and every Naga must refuse to fight a war engineered by India. It also call for total rejection of artificial political boundaries which divide the Nagas, and must outrightly refuse to accept the artificial political boundaries as social boundaries, refuse to give communal and inflammatory statement which conforms to the whims of the adversaries, and refrain from enchanting autocratic, dictatorial and tribalistic decision which do not delegate us; turn a deaf ear to the adversaries which do not conform to the national principles and opinion of the Nagas. However, certain facts which every Naga must keep on constant guard are that not all opinion which is written in the print media is public opinion; hundred wrongs can not make a right wrong. Irrespective of how many write, speak or condemn, the irreducible truth must remain even though there is no absolute truth other than god. It is because of these facts that every Naga must break all illusionary differences which are being created by the enemies to serve their selfish interest. Therefore, the need for resolving the conflict to bring fragmented territorial unification and peace within the family must be treaded cautiously so as not to aggravate the already compounded problems within. The concept of unification and peace has its relevancy only where there are confrontations. Usually, conflict refers to an ongoing state of hostility between groups of people both civil and armed cadres. Thus the process for resolving dispute should be adequately addressed to have a satisfactory outcome. The fear is that, what if Nagas take the wrong step set by the adversaries? Will the Nagas future be secured? Unification, being the purpose to end physical confrontation within, should therefore require urgent understanding of their causes and find ways for its prevention.
Today, communalism and tribalism is the biggest challenge to the Nagas’ march towards reconciliation, unification and solution. Usually, communalisms and tribalism are born out of ignorance, backwardness, unfounded ambitions, and fear of uncertainty of future. Such kind of people often indulge in communal passion and divide the people so that on the spoils of such mischief, they often flirt to achieve their lust for money, power and leadership, and sometime to derail the real desire of the people’s quest for real solution. Usually, communalisms can be easily spread where people are backward, rationally weak and ignorant. This becomes a fertile ground for planting mistrust and hatred towards one tribe against another by the adversaries. And such people often become a stooge and act as a pawn to sabotage real peace and solution and very hardly ever realise their mistake. The facts which every Naga must know are that, to murder an innocent citizen just because he or she belongs to another tribe is the worse form of communalism. To misuse one’s own privileged position to serve selfish interest is communalism. No individual or tribe can claim that they love Nagalim more than any one else by killing an innocent tribesman. It is jingoism or chauvinism and not nationalism. Communalism is not only anti-Naga but anti-human, it is against the basic foundation of Naga nationhood; it is against the very basic secular set up of a Naga nation, by killing one another in the name of tribes, we are killing our own nation. It is an affront to Naga’s search for permanent solution. Nagas must contain such menace so that we do not fight another avoidable war in the name of tribes in the years to come. There are certain fact which Nagas must admit today without any hidden agenda is communalism, which is the real threat and a real challenge to unity, peace, and solution. Nagas cannot afford to talk reconciliation, unity, peace and solution, and at the same time brandish hostile and harboured animosity towards other tribe. To achieve certain mileage is extremely difficult but it takes just a careless statement to undo the sacrifice of generations
Nagas must be extremely cautious as it has become an eyesore for the neighboring state to see the Nagas walking down the road of reconciliation and territorial unification. No doubt, they have reason to fear as we inch closer and nearer to our long cherish goal. No matter what others have to say, if Nagas reconcile and stand resolute by silencing the dreadful traitors, no one on earth can stop the Nagas except God. Today, Nagas can see the fear and restlessness in the minds of our neighboring states and other agents, and they are all out to destabilize the process of reconciliation and territorial integration. Nagas need a lot of appreciation to NSCN for consistently standing on the principle of irreducible truth despite its various weaknesses. The enemy always sees Nagas as Muivah and Muivah as Nagas. Therefore they are all out to destroy his image. Succeeding in doing so will meant burying the Nagas historical rights. By defending him, we are not only defending Nagas historical rights but defending our Naga nation. Muivah as an individual is immaterial to the Nagas, but Muivah as a leader of the Naga National Movement is everything for the Nagas. The enemy has wittingly tried to pin and exclude the Nagas to a subject matter of Naga issue to Muivah, leaving him alone to defend, forgetting that he represents the future of the Nagas. The enemy has new found weaponry trying to strip down the Naga national issue to petty individual issue and on communal line. How long can we allow the enemy to assault our Naga nation in the name of Muivah, leaving him alone to defend forgetting that he bears the brunt for defending the Naga nation? The sooner the Nagas realized the earlier our process of integration will be.
The burden of bringing unity, peace and negotiated settlement is not the sole responsibility of the national worker. However, there can be no illusion on the part of the civil societies tempted to spearhead the negotiation for settlement, as there are hordes of people wanting to be leaders without commitment to the cause and thus easily betray. The civil societies can simply be a facilitator and not a negotiator for any desired ends. Nagas must realise that the real chance for solution has been missed time and again simply because we often try to choose the easiest path without foreseeing the consequence and sometimes even if they could, they choose to deliberately do it for selfish interest. Real solution can come only when each citizen is willing to take complete responsibilities of managing their own state of affairs. No individual can completely dissociate himself or herself from the land and community to which one belongs to. We derive our security only by associating with it, be it social, economic, or political. Escaping from the problem cannot be the solution. One of the biggest drawbacks and challenges of the Nagas toady is that, we were not taught by our colonial master to cope with problem but to escape, condemn and procrastinate it. The much confusion of what we have today is the direct consequence of what we were taught in yesteryears. Constant bombardment to the younger generations of Nagas with negativism, alien history and propaganda devoid of Naga history, culture, ethos, and traditions are bound to bring these much of confusion. Nagas today are barely aware of what constitute the territorial boundary of the Naga homeland. Despite living in proximity, the Nagas seem to be unaware of each other, the recent development being an exception which deserved deep appreciation. It is becoming painful to witness that every able citizen of Nagalim can easily betray its cause in the name of the national movement. Today the temptation of confining the language of unification to the so-called Nagaland state is extremely real. Any possible road map to unification must begin from the civil societies in consultation with the nationalist who can lead the Nagas to the right direction. After all, the strength and capacity of the nation depends on the able leadership with international credibility and well conscious national interest backed by power and the vigilant citizens, lest it falls at the hands of the traitor. The biggest challenges confronting the civil societies is the modalities for unification which are time consuming and at the same time the challenges of becoming incompetent to handle the core modalities and road map looms large. The Forum for Naga Reconciliation, the Naga Hohos, the NMA, the NSF, ANSAM, UNC, ENPO, and various other Naga civil organisations operating in Changlang and Tirap of Arunachal Pradesh, Senapati, Ukhrul, Tamenglong and Chandel of Manipur; and Naga inhabited areas of Assam and Myanmar must constantly deliberate on how to unify the Naga Homeland and work out the pragmatic modalities and road map for emotional and real territorial unification. There can be no mistake on the part of the Nagas that the support of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation and Naga Hoho and various civil societies for reconciliation cannot be translated as the endorsement of the physical unification of the warring entities by force. Until such tangible unification on the side of the civil societies happens, it will be extremely difficult if not impossible to unify the NSCN under the collective leadership, and the NSCN (K) led by Kitovi and Mulatonu, and the NNC. The real danger of infighting between these factions is real and inevitable. This exact catastrophe is what the adversaries are anticipating for, and from the spoils of this infighting, the enemy is going to indulge. Nagas can not afford to repeat the same mistake committed in the past. It is time for every Nagas especially the younger generation to say traitor a traitor. We should no longer allow traitors to hide in the closet of nationalism, neither shall we allow selfish community’s interest to override the Nagas national interest, or else this will cost another preventable war and bloodshed.
In any Christian society, the voice of the Church is powerful and this is more real in a state like Nagaland. However, there are dangers in indulging too much on the activities of the state’s affairs without dichotomising the role, even though a clear-cut division is extremely difficult. This is not to demean the role and contribution of the church leaders towards reconciliation. Despite having fully appreciated, church leaders often measure political yardstick with morality which very often ends in political suicide. Very often they are poorly informed of the management of state’s affairs devoid of national interest despite their good intention thus compromising the irreducible core. We have to realize that we are not Jesus and one can not simply proclaim and expect others to behave like Jesus lest people are watching what one is up to. Temporal world is not an ecclesiastical affair and thus the responsibility of feeding moral education to the people differs with the revolutionary struggles to defend ones country. There can be no mistake that simply advocating only on moral issues without comprehending the political complexities with due consideration to national interest often lead to confusion. We are no longer in the medieval era. Countries very often interfered by religious groups in the governance are the least develop and most corrupt, frequented with bloodbath and very often people are found standing on different lines of allegiance confused with the moral teaching and the nation to which they are called to defend. Clearly, very few theocratic state survive in modern times, for example, Pakistan is a confused state today with bloodbath inextricably mixed with religious fanaticism and politicking, because they are reaping what they have sown. After all, most of the religious leaders if not all, are poor performers in education and very often, they command respect not because they are intellectuals but merely because they are the servant of God. This position often makes the religious leaders to misuse and led the masses to the wrong direction which they seldom realised. Every sensible Naga citizen must be concious that “we have to pay to Caesar what is due to Caesar and unto God what is due to God.” If Nagalim is burning, hungry with power, corruption, bloodshed, defection and switching of loyalties, lack of dignity and commitment to the cause, and lust for money, committing only to the material world without committing to the people, the Church leaders have a fair share of responsibilities, because they are the exact outcome of the moral indoctrination. It is the exact reflection of what the Naga families are up to at home, for no nation can rise above the families. The church leaders, very often presume that all moral decision has a positive outcome, however it should be kept in mind that good intention doesn’t always lead to good result, and very often, moral decision too has adverse political implication. Perhaps, Nagas will be wise if we learnt from history that, the appeasement policy of Chamberlain towards the communalist Nazi, who campaign against the Jew costs England and the whole world, a World War. The intention of Chamberlain was good and moral, but the outcome was catastrophic. The policy of Chamberlain to prevent war and bloodshed by pleasing the anti-human communal Nazi Hitler forced England to fight the war. They fought the war to end the war and indeed it ends the war. The decision appears immoral yet the outcome was moral. England perhaps knew that the war with anti-Jew Hitler was inevitable, yet they tried a very moral policy in order to please the moralist, yet when England chose to fight the inevitable war, Hitler was much stronger though. This same history can be repeated in a small country like Nagalim. The harboured animosity and hatred towards certain communities by a few section of the so-called nationalist cannot easily be ignored, as this is not only anti-Naga but anti-human as well. It is indeed increasingly surprising to note that communalism has become a feature or a habit of certain so-called leaders. Even though Nagas are culturally, racially, and religiously homogeneous, the so-called leaders are Indian by taste and outlook, devoid of Naganess and have been completely capitulated intellectually, physically, psychologically, morally and financially to India for survival by executing anti-Naga activities in the guise of serving the people. After all, their survivability rest on raising pseudo Naga issue which are literally anti-Naga to earn cheap money and support, thus further forcing them to foment trouble to the detriment of the Nagas national Interest. The so-called sections of the nationalist are today the detractor of real reconciliation and territorial unification by aligning with the adversaries like, Indian agencies, ULFA of Assam and UNLF and PLA of Manipur etc of the neighbouring states for their sole survival. Perhaps, these anti-Naga militants of the neighbouring states are laughing away with the very kind of folly and wasted opportunity and resources of the people in the name of serving the nation, wondering as to how Naga parents are allowing their children to the camp of the adversaries to train for anti-Naga activities back home. Few sections of the Nagas are today deliberately embracing it, despite the fact that it serves the interest of the adversaries. Today, the younger generations are increasingly accepting the artificial political boundaries as the social and cultural boundaries, despite the fact that Nagas are homogeneous and one. This perhaps could be blamed to the kind of Indian education we are imparted upon, completely ignoring the Nagas historical perspective and deliberately encouraging to develop apathy towards the movement, thereby indefinitely postponing the search for solution. Thanks to the nationalist leaders, who kept the national issue alive locally and internationally.
As eternal vigilance is the price of democracy, eternal sentinelism is the only option, lest while we nap, the freedom may be snatched. The challenges of the Naga nationalist are overwhelming, every Naga army is a foot soldier, intelligence gatherer, strategist or analyst, trainer, torch bearer, government, economist, arm manufacturers, scientist, social engineer, messenger of peace and hope, freedom fighter, diplomats or ambassador, advocate of justice, forest and border guards, law enforcement agency, educationist, spiritualist, legislator, negotiator, constitutionalist, philosopher and so on anchored in one single individual and the chances of them committing mistakes are very high, yet the Nagas are increasingly unforgiving. However, giving up is not the option we can take. The strength of the adversaries like India is overwhelming, with various departments, each independently manned by different individuals of different qualifications yet we have sustained this far. The chances of the enemies exploiting the in-competencies are very real, and yet we are taking the bait. It will be unwise on the part of the Nagas to assume that adversaries are always from outside the system, as infiltration of the so-called traitors can be within the nationalists and within our home propagating unification and peace, extremely watchful of the burning issue hijacking the limelight and stealing the show. Nagas should sternly demand for a clear-cut differentiation between self-imposed selfish opinion and real public opinion. Thanks to the younger generations and the old alike which are withstanding the onslaught of the overcharged word—unification devoid of unity. Statement for statement sake without modalities for unity and peace cannot work out. Semblance peace is not real peace. The enemies of the Nagas are today flirting and exploiting the overdue unification of the Nagas itself as the weapons to thwart the process of reconciliation for settling the Indo-Naga political crisis, deliberately putting the cart before the horse, and thus jamming the whole process to real unification. There is no denying the fact that a train cannot run until the rail track has been laid, thus without the acceptable modalities and road map for unification, the process cannot be initiated. However, cautious treading of the issues cannot be translated as anti-reconciliation, anti-unification and anti-peace. Nagas as a whole are overwhelmingly for reconciliation and unification if the real road map and modalities are heading to the right direction. It should be extremely cautious, for we are treading on the future of millions of the younger generations of Nagalim, which can be easily exploited by the detractor. Each time, the vigilant Naga citizen raises its concern, the adversaries, and detractors change its colour. Nagas let us beware!
(The writer is a Shillong-based Lecturer in Political Science)
The author can be contacted at ngmahongnao@gmail.com
