Kaka D. Iralu
To begin with, do Nagas really have a political problem with India? If one looks at Nagaland today, at the surface level, there seems to be no problem at all. After all 90% + Nagas are happily pursuing their life’s ambitions under the Indian flag with over 1 lac government employees getting their salaries and even medals under that same flag and government. On top of this, the Indian government is building all the Naga roads as well as financing all the governmental infrastructure and expenditures to keep that Indian Naga government running smoothly.
What then is the Indo- Naga political problem? For an answer we will have to look into the past because the present does not seem to show any problems.
Now unless Naga fathers of the 1950’s have very short memories, they will remember that over 53,000 Indian troops accompanied by Heavy Artillery, Jet fighters and Light Armored Tanks invaded Naga country and burnt Nagaland into ashes. They will also remember that nearly 1 lack Naga fathers, mothers, sons and daughters died from bullets, rape torture, and diseases during that period alone. That was how the Indian flag was hoisted in Nagaland in the fifties on the false claims that Nagas are Indians and Nagaland is Indian Territory.
But now, what do we see going on in Nagaland today? Let us begin by asking ourselves the following questions:
1. When the enemy has invaded our lands and forced our citizens to dance in the inauguration of a so called state and then forced the first elections under the threat of loaded rifles; can our Pastors still urge their church members to go and cast their votes so that this foreign imposed government can be continued in our lands?
2. When the enemy is still in occupation of our lands, can our national leaders and our national army be sitting under a white flag for 35 years waiting for the enemy occupational forces to initiate peace talks?
3. Or when the enemy is still in occupation of our lands, can some of our national leaders be talking with the enemy occupational forces for 13 years for integration of our territories under the enemy’s constitution (Or a sub-Constitution under their constitution)?
4. Or still in greater absurdity, when the enemy is still in occupation of our lands, can we be shooting one another to death for factional supremacy instead of collectively fighting the enemy to drive them away from our lands? In times like this, when our beloved country lies in ruins of occupation and corruptions, can we be wasting all our time and energies running from every pillar to every post pleading for reconciliation and ceasefires among ourselves?
When one sees and considers all these unbelievable things that we Nagas are doing today, one cannot but conclude that though Nagas indeed had a political invasion problem with India from 1947 to 1975, the present so called Naga political problem is not an Indo-Naga problem but purely an INTERNAL NAGA PROBLEM.
In conclusion, as for those Nagas who are saying that they are Indians in order to enjoy the benefits of the Indian state of Nagaland, I emphatically wish to say this to these Naga imposters: DO NOT INSULT THE GREAT INDIAN PEOPLE BY PRETENDING TO BE ONE OF THEM. I call them great Indians because at least, they did not pretend to be British citizens when Britain was, by invasion ruling over them. They were men enough to say that they were Indians and fought and drove away that imperial power from their lands and became independent in 1947.
