Clutching the sky blue flag of Nagalim with the rainbow and the star and joining in the singing of “We shall overcome”, I was the odd face in the vast sea of Naga tribes gathered from all across the North-East and even Burma, at the meeting on 29th February, organized by the Forum For Naga Reconciliation (FNR) in Dimapur . As an independent journalist from Mumbai who has been a regular visitor to Nagaland over the past 30 years, I am honored to have witnessed some important milestones in the journey of the Nagas and this was yet another. As one who has tried to closely follow the Naga story, I thought to take this opportunity to share some thoughts and impressions.
Sitting amongst the audience that day one sensed the great expectation and hope of the Nagas as they came pouring into the meeting ground, wearing their most colourful shawls and nattiest waistcoats, some sporting their traditional necklaces. It was heart lifting to hear the rhythamic thump of the tribal drum and purity of Naga voices singing in thanks giving and praise, that “the long, long night is over”. For many years a powerful people’s movement for truth and reconciliation has courageously willed its faction ridden political leaders to unite and speak with one voice in evolving a solution to the Naga problem with the Government of India.
As I looked around this Naga gathering, I was gripped by a powerful emotion – a deep sense of sadness that the rest of India and the government in Delhi had done so little to win the trust and affection of this fine people. The Nagas have always struck me as being honorable, straight forward, true to their word, highly creative and musical, humorous, deeply cultured and of high intellectual caliber. Even as I was thinking these thoughts I was given reason to cringe with embarrassment and shock at the foolish and ham-handed behavior of the Government of India.
Just as an important leader, Isaac Chishi Swu, of the NSCN(IM) (National Socialist Council of Nagaland, Isaac Muivah), a dominant faction conducting talks with the Indian Government was speaking, a helicopter suddenly appeared and made two sorties circling the field. The noise forced the meeting to a halt and the entire audience looked up in silent amazement and growing disgust. The message clearly being sent to them was ‘Indian might prevails’. The Nagas, perhaps long used to such postures of threat did not react. But one young man sitting nearby was heard muttering, “This just shows the level of their culture”.
Here again, instead of respecting the internal struggle of the Naga public to deal with an incredibly difficult situation and offer silent support, The Government Of India, lost yet another opportunity to win hearts and minds. This muscle flexing was insensitive and insulting and the Government of India needs to replace its misguided advisers on North East policy.
The four hours long FNR meeting had the audience listening to its leaders from civil society and political factions with rapt attention. It was a thinking audience that measured every word with discrimination. One could tell that it was not carried away by the speeches and rhetoric and its response was deeply thoughtful at all times. As one civil society leader said, “Nagas are hurt and fed up with the dangerously fragmented politics, the taxes and killings”.
FNR’s ability to get at least three of the six factions on their platform that day was appreciated by many speakers and members of the audience one spoke to. For many younger Nagas it was their first opportunity to see these top leaders face to face and hear them in person. “This is a very different experience from reading about in the newspapers and we could form our own impressions”, a young woman from the Chakhesang tribe said.
To me it was significant that FNR has dropped the use of the word ‘Truth’, and only speaks of ‘Reconciliation’. Truth was a casualty at the FNR meeting where a seemingly independent civil society organization seemed to unduly fawn on the leadership of the NSCN (IM) at the expense of equal treatment to all other Naga leaders – civil society and other factions. It brought to mind the Orwellian world of Animal Farm, where “some pigs are more equal than others”.
This fawning was evident in the strict imposition of four minutes to all speakers barring the NSCN (IM) leaders Isaac Swu and Th. Muivah, who were allowed to ramble on for at least half an hour each. And why was a ‘Representative Sheet’ being circulated in the villages, which spoke of participation in the ‘7th Naga People’s Consultative’?
While the NSCN (IM) is the dominant Naga faction that achieved a ceasefire with the GOI and is negotiating a settlement on behalf of the Naga people, it does not have their unconditional mandate. Time and again Naga society and its institutions have stressed that the NSCN (IM) can only speak with the GOI after it has sat down with every faction and evolved a common consensus on the terms of the agenda. Failure to act on common consensus would amount to a repeat of the Shillong Accord of 1975, which was negotiated by some Naga leaders with the GOI in secrecy. It resulted in fragmentation of the Naga national struggle and society, leading to decades of blood spilling and internal strife between the Naga political factions.
The speeches of Isaac Swu and Th. Muivah did not reveal what exactly is the content of the ongoing talks with the GOI and even smacked of double-speak. On one hand, they told the Naga public that GOI is not willing to discuss sovereignty or integration of the Naga inhabited areas and it seemed that they had accepted this position. On the other hand they spoke of NSCN (IM) role in winning the GOI’s recognition of the “unique historical position of the Nagas”, and while they spoke of “sovereignty”, it was not clear what exactly they are talking about.
If they are considering “out of the box” interpretations of ‘sovereignty’, the NSCN (IM) did not spell out what alternatives are under discussion. Quite apparent, in fact, was the vacuum of ideas – both from the faction and civil society leaders – about the framework of an honorable settlement that would satisfy the aspirations of all the deeply divided Naga communities.
While refusing to sit with the other Naga factions to figure out what would be an acceptable agenda for the talks, NSCN (IM) is trying to show that it has been upfront with the Naga public and has their mandate. The Naga public, however, do not know what to make of these statements, and one public leader even pointed out that a public meeting is hardly the forum for endorsing the terms of the agenda. The stand of all the different factions is not at all clear and they are having separate meetings with the GOI which is not above playing its old game of ‘divide and rule’.
Muivah and Isaac’s unwillingness to sit down with other faction leaders was communicated through veiled statements like, “Let us reconcile as a Christian nation, not in the name of the leaders. Do not force me to have trust in the name of other groups. We will not betray you. In the name of reconciliation do not tell us… you tell them. Don’t try to please everyone. You can speak truth in the name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ”. It was apparent even to me the outsider, that the Nagas have no reassurance that their national leaders have had a change of heart or are guided by a higher vision.
Not discounting the violent role of other factions, the NSCN (IM) has no small share in the mindless killing of political opponents, extortion and gun culture over the past decades. The speeches of its leaders in fact, conveyed a brazen threat to those “who are trying to teach us about reconciliation but not willing to teach themselves”.
Speakers from civil society at this meeting, made a courageous plea for an end to the killings, culture of extortion and heavy burden of taxation imposed on the public by all the factions. One of them, the President of the Naga Hoho, timidly pleaded, “please minimize your taxation and ease the burden of the public”, while the Dimapur Naga Council had the gumption to strongly plea for “One government, one people, one tax”. So deep is the tribal divide over development funds that the eastern districts of Mon and Tuensang are now agitating for their own separate state, separate from western Nagaland.
While all the faction leaders present spoke of ending the bloodshed, it appears to have made little difference on the ground. Newspapers continued to report clashes and killings the very next day. There are reliable reports of highly sophisticated weapons manufacturing in Tuensang, the eastern district of Nagaland on the Burma border, by two of the factions. A senior leader from this area says he could not differentiate these weapons – pistols, rifles, AK47’s, bullets -- from a corresponding Chinese make, and although the Army and State Home Department are aware of it nothing has been done. Why? In this lawless wilderness of the North-East, do they too have a stake in the Dimapur arms bazaar, this Naga leader asks.
The plea to end extortion (backed by the rampant gun culture) made at the FNR meet, once again raises questions about the role of the GOI and its agencies in the North-East. It is an open secret that a huge chunk of all development funds coming from the Centre are being siphoned into the pockets of politicians, bureaucrats and contractors. The fountainhead of this corruption starts in New Delhi and is perpetuated all down the line. Naga national factions naturally assume their right to a cut in the spoils.
The point here is that there is a strong vested interest at every level, which has a stake in keeping the North-East pot boiling and perpetuating the continuation of disturbed conditions. If this culture of extortion and corruption is to end, one sees only two ways forward:
Nagas who do not pay any taxes should now begin to think of raising funds their own development through generation of internal taxes and end the undue largesse from Delhi, which is the root cause of corruption and easy money that is destroying society here. This would put Nagaland on par with other Indian states and perhaps, with strong anti-corruption laws in place, it would create greater scope for control of funds.
Secondly, Nagaland could take a leaf from the Mizo experience and encourage its factions to participate in the democratic and electoral process. This may help curb belligerent politics and force accountability, as we have experienced in Maharashtra with some of our right-wing parties.
The GOI meanwhile has to end its fence sitting in the North-East. It must act to end the gun-culture, institute channels of accountability for the flow of money, ensure good governance and speed up the development process – particularly infrastructure and road building – in tune with the aspirations of local communities. I fear the long night is not yet over for the Nagas, but the enormous will of the Naga people to get their society on to a path that meets their collective aspirations for peace and development is now irreversible and the GOI must support this search. The continuing Naga search for truth and reconciliation is a story closely watched and holds an example for some of the most intractable conflict situations across the world.
(Rupa Chinai is an independent journalist based in Mumbai. She has been a regular visitor to the North-East since 1980 and closely followed the Naga story. She attended the recently held FNR meeting, February 29, 2012 in Dimapur. She may be contacted at her Email:
rupachinai68@yahoo.com)
