Achan Ramsan
It has been a marriage of inconvenience – a marriage consumed cutting across state borders and barriers of inter-tribe relations that skeptics would blurt out the all too familiar one liner: ‘I told you so’, with a knowing smug smile of contempt. The abortive attempt of Nagas outside Nagaland to get affiliation to the Nagaland board of education proved a costly mistake and setback – dogged by lack of planning on one hand and lack of reciprocation from the people of Nagaland.
Goodbye Manipur
FIRST, the slogan – ‘WELCOME TO NAGALAND, GOODBYE TO MANIPUR’; then another equally sensational script – ‘ADIEU TO MBOSE (Manipur Board of School Education)’ – this fully unfolds the war-like situation. This is further pronounced when the syllabus and textbooks of Manipur were consigned to the flame.
One is given the optical illusion that the Nagas of Manipur have done away with the seat of government in the valley of Imphal. But the head weighed so much with the preoccupation and the struggle for survival; destiny had to be dictated otherwise, making the people relent. Yes, the heart was willing but the flesh yielded!
NOW, people want to revert back their decision and adopt the Manipur board. Why? People just want to be more realistic and practical. So, what about their earlier stand?
Don’t they risk being labelled?
The decision to opt for Nagaland board seemed to be an affair borne out of deplorable half-hearted conviction that failed to be absorbed in the gut and the present turmoil projects a divided opinion. The public are made out to like a spineless idiot who do not exhibit any moral accountability. Their entire cry seems to have withered down and fizzled out overnight. Or, do we blame the underground as the sole engineer? For that would be most unfair. After all, the people were not forced under the barrel of a gun. So, are the people themselves to be blamed for this fiasco?
The factors for failure
There’s endless maze of confusion, if one tries to fathom the onus of responsibility and blame.
But, it must be put on record, the dismal performance of those on the forefront who abandoned, nay, betrayed the struggling schools and all those who are in it to sort out the maze by them themselves. Such lackadaisical attitude and performance prompted parents, teachers and students alike to regard the issue as without and trustworthiness, dependability and feasibility.
For all practical purpose and reason, lack of rationale appeared as the first fissure when government schools in the Naga areas of Manipur were exempted from the purview of the ban. This opened the room for disparity and the option for some students to appear from either or in both the Manipur and Nagaland board. After all, who wants to fail? Such loophole or lacunae is tantamount to deprivation of opportunity to the less fortunate.
Now, students in the 10th standard are keen for admission at government schools, in the event of failure to switch over to Manipur board. Can the private schools afford to lose their students to government schools? There won’t be any taker. Equality and uniformity, and the applicability of the two should be the basis for any norm in a society.
Appearing as ‘private candidate’ is an anomaly and school principals feel insulted after they were promised affiliation to Nagaland board and a centre in their area.
The blame goes to the Nagaland government for its cold reception, organizations on the forefront for lack of foresight and failure to do their homework and to the NSCN (IM) for their tall promises that never transpired.
Student’s life as the most crucial period was admitted, but never appreciated. Genuine empathy was absent. Had there been genuine concern, the present scenario would have been quite different – misunderstanding and communication gap is the major hurdle now.
While organizations want to persist and pursue further, public are wary. People know, it would be beyond their patience to bear a sustained struggle. It is not their lack of support to the cause for Nagalim, but they don’t want to capitalize on the uncertainty of politics.
Thus, grounded by the dismal result in the Nagaland board, further complicated by the threat of the NSCN (K), further coupled with fear at the unknown attitude of the Nagaland government and the stance it is likely to adopt later, so people were desperate to throw in their lot with something more concrete and tangible than occupy themselves with some vague expression of their emotionalism. They know better things to do than jeopardize the career of students.
Goodbye Nagaland
WHY OPT FOR NAGALAND BOARD?
In the light of language as a communicating tool of culture and identity which had been shabbily treated san room foe development, it is but natural to find an outlet for the promotion of language.
However, adoption of the Nagaland board in no way ameliorate such condition – rather silenced the quest for identity and space. In fact, subjects like Tangkhul which could be offered till the 10+2 level in Manipur became a casualty. For what guarantee is there that Nagaland government will give due recognition to the languages in Manipur?
Moreover, if efforts were made to accommodate the languages, such as Tangkhul, would not that rouse up more communal passion and tension? The present ground being not conducive for exploring such viability, stretching the issue beyond its surviving capability makes no sense. But, this much be said: it must be conceded that Nagas outside Nagaland have done their best, and left no stone unturned but for the lack of equal reciprocation from their Nagaland counterpart.
As much as one would like to admire the will of the Nagas, yet the practical aspect or the ground realities just cast a dark shadow of doubt and death. Talks are afoot of SC Jamir donning his political career in Nagaland. I don’t think he will kindly treat the issue as it is now. The state of Nagaland is a manifestation of India’s gaining clout, and to be naturally controlled by person subscribing to such politics. So, any change of guard at the helm of power in Nagaland became the deciding factor, no matter the amount of public sentiment. This dependency on Nagalnd political scenario makes the Nagaland board issue as a pendulum, ready to swing to its whims and fancy. Thus the issue is staked at the mercy of a particular ministry and Nagas only gain to lose the legitimacy of the Naga issue to an authority which is a non-entity by protocol. Precisely, the Nagaland government will not decide the destiny of the Nagas and the only way for the Nagas to fall into their own bait is by their ineptitude.
It is a sore sight to see the degradation to which the struggle for self-determination has fallen flat on the depth of despair. As far as the board issue is concerned it is a non-issue – the issue is for the self-government of the Nagas and education being just a part of it. Unless, there is a legal structure incorporated in Nagaland that accommodates the interest of the Nagas outside Nagaland, people struggled in vain. Nagaland as a union of India has a structure well defined within the limit of the constitution of India in the same way as Manipur. Without the modification of the existing structure, Nagaland has no legitimacy to offer anything to the outside Nagas.
The only option for the Nagas
If the Nagas outside Nagaland are at all to survive, struggle to carve out as exclusive political space for them by themselves is inevitable. Because any accommodation in Nagaland for the outside Nagas tantamount to competing their space and impinge on their share, auguring ill will.
The reality of people wasting away in despair for more than five decades, silenced by the more radical demand for Nagalim, is irrational and absurd. In the absence of Nagalim as a reality yet, it is most legitimate to find an alternative model of realizing their hope and aspiration. While Nagalim is a dream, alternative mode of development was a reality forced to ignore and discard. But in doing so, the will of the people to fight for their own rights has been impaired to such extents that they could not dream even. For if immediate reality has been blinded and denied, then thinking of something greater becomes a greater folly and room to ventilate their grievance is long vanquished to remain as mute and silent spectator to all spectacle.
The fact that Nagaland enjoying the fruit of its status as a state, did not bar it from demanding Nagalim, should be an eye opener and the same measuring rod should be applied to Nagas outside Nagaland without any hurdle from any quarter. The platform to mitigate their grievances is a necessity.
Therefore, it must be understood - it is not the principle of oneness of the Nagas that they disown but just the practical aspect that they do not deny. There is no dissonance. The feeling of oneness always being there, wrong leadership could exploit the situation any time any way.
It is the bankruptcy of a true leader that allowed the issue to be evaporated to such an impasse. For an issue needs to be built on the premise of truth and timeless validity. Banking on vague emotionalism without charting out a concrete and tangible aim and object won’t do.
