Niketu Iralu
(Memorial Stone Unveiling Ceremony.
February 28, 2007)
Others much more qualified and experienced than me, because of their direct involvement in the heroic actions of the Naga struggle with Anie Khrisanisa, will be paying their tributes to him for what he did for our people at a most difficult period in our story. Khrisanisa the man and the statesman of great dignity and integrity, unquestionable honour and commitment will be evaluated by those who stood shoulder to shoulder with him to proclaim and defend the Naga position in a rapidly changing world.
Time is severely rationed on this occasion. So, accepting the undeserved privilege given to me to say something today, I am going straight into what I believe is uppermost in our minds as we sit here today. And I am sure that is no other than the Naga struggle which is the central, most powerful experience of the Naga people over the past half a century.
It is said “Our hopes are seldom realized, but it is our pursuit of them that changes history”. (Aristotle). We can be grateful Nagas have pursued their hopes. They have not been realized as we have wanted, but it has changed our history. How do we respond to where our struggle has brought us?
The Naga struggle brought the best out of the Nagas as they rose to a huge challenge. Today it seems to be bringing the worst out of all of us and the consequences are shocking us. What has become of our struggle? And what are we to do with it? Are we to forget it after all that we have said, done and suffered, and go and do something else as if nothing has happened? Is that ever possible at all for a people who have struggled as we have done? These are heart-breaking questions for Nagas who have loved their struggle so passionately and paid such a heavy price for it. I am not suggesting here that our earlier leaders and fighters were better human beings. That is something God alone knows and can judge rightly. If tempted by the same opportunities perhaps many of us will yield to them?
According to Socrates “A life not examined is not worth living”. We have found this to be true also of a people’s struggle. If a struggle is not constantly examined and its responses to changes kept up to date, it becomes un-pursuable and intolerably destructive, as ours has started to become. I believe we should find out what has gone wrong in our struggle and why, and search for the truth together that will heal and unite us, instead of irresponsibly blame one another. Blaming is not only fruitless, it is dangerous. I believe the struggle was the right decision Nagas made at the beginning. If, in the given situation at the beginning of our story, starting from the declaration made to the Simon Commission in 1929, our early elders had failed, for any reason, to do what they so did so boldly by being simply truthful to what they felt to be right according to their history up to that time, the Naga struggle will be without legal validity, political legitimacy and historical dignity. Then our crisis today will be much more hopeless and complicated than it is already.
I think we will get the perspective and understanding we need if we think of two parallel realities, or processes in nature. Let us compare the larger Naga story to a river, and our struggle within it to a fruit tree. A river starts in very insignificant, silent little fountains and springs. A number of springs and fountains gradually join and become a stream that flows on to become a small river, then a big river. At the beginning the water of the springs and stream flowing down tree-covered hillsides are clean and clear. Gradually, the quality of the water and the size of the river change greatly as the river flows through changing landscapes and climes. Yet, the river from the beginning to the point where it flows into the sea is the same river! We should realize this is happening to the Naga River also. How do we Nagas respond to this existential reality? Here I believe is an important parallel truth for the life and story of a people, nation or civilization that we must examine and understand.
It will give us the right idea and philosophy of life which will enable us to respond better to our crisis. Then let us consider the tree idea. The Naga struggle was like a sacred tree Nagas planted many years ago. The sapling was healthy and it grew rapidly with all Nagas nurturing it, inspired by what it promised for them. The tree started to bear some fruits. Nagas discovered that for its proper growth the tree required patience, very high quality mutual goodwill, trust and cooperation among its owners and the gardeners. It was also very sensitive to the quality of the water and nutrients given to it for its growth.
The tree we expected so much from started to produce unhealthy poisonous fruits when the owners (the people) became too busy with their own lives and paid little attention to other needs, and the gardeners (the national workers), most tragically, started to fight over who should be in charge of the tree! They get so obsessed in the fight that the tree is sick and dying untended. What kind of water and nutrients they are using to nurture the tree is another question. We have no time to go into that today. One very important lesson from the river imagery is that global changes way beyond our control are shaping us which we are compelled to respond to resulting in changes in our plans which we cannot prevent. We are a part of a world where all mankind are required to accept changes for all to survive and progress together. Of course, most of the time, it is the smaller, weaker ones who pay the highest price for adjustment. This is a very difficult reality.
The lessons from the fruit tree are:
1. The tree requires proper care and feeding with the right kind of water and nutrients.
2. If the tree is not healthy the quality of the fruit cannot be good.
3. We Nagas have to admit, we have been more interested in the fruits we want to enjoy right away than in nurturing and caring for the health of the fruit tree, making the garden a pleasant place as well. If the time should arrive one day for us to run our own sovereignty, will Nagas run it differently from the way we are running the State today? This is something not just the leaders, but all of us the ordinary citizens have to ask ourselves truthfully. A wise farmer is more concerned about the health of the fruit tree than in its fruits!
If we consider the lessons from the river and the fruit tree, there is really no need to blame and antagonize one another and dividing ourselves into meaningless fragments. Down the years, the leaders of all factions and parties have contributed to damaging the Naga fruit tree. They will not deny this in their hearts. The people certainly see it that way. Perhaps the mistakes and wrongs have been committed not because they have wanted to but because the pressures of changes have been too much for them to respond to properly. Alas, in the name of protecting the tree and its future fruits, some factions have gone too far, forcing our people to pay all kinds of taxes. We are told some of them have built palatial residences and bought cars which they would not be able to afford if they had not misused the money collected arbitrarily and under duress. Whether they have paid for their building materials or their cars is not really known for sure. Is this the way to “struggle” and how long can it be sustained?
I am not saying this to target this or that particular group whose members are committing criminal deeds which we know is true. I am trying to focus our thinking on the crisis that has arisen while the struggle is still going on. And let us make no mistake. This crisis is going to increase and all tribes are already getting involved in a deadly competition for the wrong thing which we will not be able to survive. We need to find wisdom and grace from heaven to help one another to answer the crisis and come out stronger, as God means us to. To follow the Naga River down the past decades of its journey is to visit all that has happened to our struggle and story, resulting in the strange, baffling river we know today. Along its journey the river has run into a number of crises, as happens in the stories of all rivers or human struggles also. We need to understand the enormity of the dilemma all of us have been forced to face and be less judgmental of the mistakes made although we need to be honest about them. The crises generated enormous pressures which we were not prepared to respond to properly.
The crises resulted in the creation of the State of Nagaland, the first Ceasefire and talks with Delhi and its collapse, the Revolutionary Government, Shillong Accord, the emergence of NSCN followed by its split into the two NSCNs of today.
There is no time to go into the details of these developments that have produced today’s Naga society and politics. But what we Nagas must decide now is to accept full ownership of all that has happened down the years. We have blamed one another bitterly I believe because what has happened is still too close to us. One is reminded of what Chou En-lai once reportedly said in the ‘50s when asked what he thought of the French Revolution of 1789. The Chinese Premiere replied, “It is too early to say”.
History is still too close to us so our subjective reactions, prejudices and fears are too strong for us to handle. But the time has come when we must find a creative, bold way of sitting down together in our best traditional way to truthfully acknowledge the truths of the mistakes, failures and wrongs, whatever they may be, and help one another to find liberation from the heavy burdens of history. This we must do to build our peoplehood and nationhood together. If we want nothing at all for ourselves, and we want only the truth, what is right and best for all, or God’s will, to win, then it will be possible for us to discuss anything and reach a common position. Then Nagas may show how the most difficult divisions and conflicts can be sorted out and justice and cooperation restored. The toughest issue we will need to discuss will be Sovereignty because so many have died for it. What has it done to us because what we have done to it? We need not fear to discuss even this provided we will learn to listen to one another with mutual respect free of distrust.
Let us hear what Dietrich von Bonhoeffer, the German Christian martyr, killed by Hitler, said about listening: “Refusal to listen to each other is the beginning of spiritual death, perhaps even physical death too. He who no longer listens to his brother and sister will soon no longer listen to God either”. In closing I venture to say that all our leaders and brave national workers who have gone are watching us from heaven today. Besides Anie Khrisanisa one can think of Imkongmeren, Kughato Sukhai, Phizo, Thongti, Zashei Huire, Mhiamo Yhome, the first Chief Justice who died as a political prisoner in Bihar, Vilekho Peseyie, Brigadier Reivilie, General Yanbemo, Ahng SS Likhimo, Ato Kilonser Wheha, Chakho Mao, and so many other men and women not known to some of us but who too gave their best. I am sure Anie Khrisanisa must be very happy that this occasion dedicated to him has given this opportunity for all his comrades and Nagas from all over to come together and reflect as we are doing today. We can be sure they would not like us to be afraid of discussing any issue dividing and weakening us. This event reveals our people’s reawakening is possible.
Thank you.
Niketu Iralu
“Whispering Pines”
Shillong.
