When God, in His unparalleled magnanimity, created Adam and Eve and placed them in the beautiful garden, everything was free for them. They were not supposed to work or labour in order to eat or enjoy anything in the garden as they were given complete dominion and supremacy over all animate and non-animate things in the garden. The only thing required of them was that they had to acknowledge, respect and revere the one who created them and gave them everything.
But the first man and woman fell short of the glory and magnanimity of God and they rebelled against God by doing exactly what their Lord had forbidden them to do. So God had to chase them away from the Eden garden. And when God commanded them to leave the garden, He also uttered words over both of them which have echoed down the ages to our own times. To the woman, God said that she would give birth to her offspring through unbearable birth pangs. While to the man He said that from henceforth, nothing would be free for him and he would have to labour and sweat to eat, live and sustain himself and his family.
So, from the moment God commanded that man would have to work to eat and live began the most profound and fundamental assignment of man. That is why to be able to do some work that can provide food and other essentials for oneself became the top most priority for man in every civilization and society. Even in modern times, one of the most fundamental tasks of democratic governments has been to create jobs and employment opportunities for its citizens. To create employment opportunities is found as a top commitment in the election manifestos of most political parties during elections and rightly so because when people cannot find work even though they are willing to work it can lead to frustration, social unrest, crimes or even revolutions and civil wars in extreme cases. Certainly, man can go to any extent to be able to find work that can provide him with the much needed daily bread. And most men under desperation would be willing to do anything that can give him his daily bread because the Creator God himself had commanded and designed it that way when he chased Adam and his wife from the beautiful garden.
So, in that case, what do you say about all those outsiders who are pouring in into our lands unabated to earn their daily bread? Certainly, we cannot forbid anyone to earn his daily bread if he is willing to do any work to sustain himself. We also cannot prosecute or sue anyone coming into our lands to earn their livelihood through fair means because God himself had commanded that every man would have to work to live.
So when outsiders learn or find out that there are ample opportunities in our lands for them to earn their daily bread, they would naturally not hesitate to find a way to enter our lands in the quest for the daily bread. These outsiders who enter our lands either legally or illegally to find work come here because the job opportunities are already saturated in their own native places. They are willing to do anything in their own land also to feed their stomach. But because of the exploding population, the job avenues have all come down to zero. So naturally when they learn that there is a place called Nagaland situated in the Indo-Myanmar border where the inhabitants are so caught-up in their ego and craze for only white collar jobs that they are not willing to raise even a finger to do the manual works that actually run the engine of life, these outsiders who cannot find work in their own place would not think twice to jump to their feet to come to our land either by hook or by crook. This is so because in a man’s life, there is nothing greater or more important than to be able to find something to do that can give him his daily bread. This is the predicament in which the Nagas find themselves today.
So, how do we wage war against a people who are here in our land to earn their own livelihood by doing the so-called dirty works which we are not willing to do? Or why are we scared of them when they are not here to harm or disfigure us but rather to earn their daily bread by rendering their most invaluable service to us in one way or the other? Or why do we consider them a threat when they are not here with guns, bullets or explosives but just to find ways and means to earn their livelihood?
We feel threatened because we do not know and cannot ascertain whether they are here legally or illegally. We are also threatened because their numbers are exploding and we are becoming more and more dependent on them both consciously and subconsciously.
As of now, the tribals of Nagaland are protected by laws and constitutional provisions like the much hyped Article 371 (A), the ILP machinery etc. Because of the existence of these laws, non- Nagas cannot buy or own immovable assets in Nagaland and they are also deprived of voting rights.
Then why do we feel so threatened by outsiders who are here just to earn their daily bread by doing the things which we ourselves are not willing to do and also when we are safeguarded by so many laws?
Today these outsiders cannot buy or own immovable assets like lands and houses in our lands and they also do not have voting rights. So we may feel save for now. But if their number continues to explode exponentially, a day may come when they protest in our streets demanding ownership right, voting rights or job reservations. And when massive crowds protest in the streets against a people who have become a minority in their own land, things can take a drastic turn for the worse for us. And history is witness to the fact that massive crowds, comprising of whether outsiders or insiders, protesting or revolting in the streets have changed the course of human history by uprooting the very tree that provided shelter to them. God forbid such a fate befalls Nagaland!
And our fear of these seemingly harmless outsiders who are here just for their daily bread is not unfounded. It is natural to feel apprehensive and alarmed when outsiders begin to outnumber the insiders. The Pharaoh of Egypt felt threatened and alarmed at the increasing number of the Israelites in his country and subjected them to hard labor and untold misery to keep them subjugated. So today it is not unnatural that we are concerned about this issue.
Our concerns are further compounded when we realize that now Naga couples are choosing to have fewer children. Naga parents now prefer to limit the number of their children to either two or three as opposed to large families that we used to prefer in the past. And I have also observed that in most govt. schools especially in the towns, the number of non- Naga students are on the rise.
During the ULB elections held last year, when I went to the polling station to cast my vote, I stood in a line which was comprised mostly of the so-called “plain-manu”. I struck up conversation with them and found out that most of them were shopkeepers, masons, thikadars and teachers who were all here in the quest for the daily bread.
So, the matter that confronts the Nags today is this: how do we safeguard ourselves from people who are here just following what God has commanded all men to do i.e. work to earn one’s daily bread. Surely we cannot forbid anybody from earning his livelihood. But our fears and apprehensions are also not unfounded when we see all around us that outsiders are everywhere now serving us in the quest of the daily bread doing the most basic necessities of work which we are not at all willing to do or learn to do. No doubt valid laws still exist in theory and paper which seem to protect us. But when the very basic demographic profile of our land is being disfigured beyond recognition on a daily basis, these laws and constitutional provisions may also slowly erode and lose its credibility.
The quest for the daily bread which was commanded upon man by God himself has shaped and molded the course of human history. And today we Nagas find ourselves in a dilemma where we have to find ingenious ways and means to protect ourselves from outsiders who have flooded our corridors and backyards seemingly (as of now) only in their quest for the daily bread.
