Z. K. Pahrii
When I was in high school, we were sent to represent our school in a district level football tournament in Senapati. Unfortunately, one of our friends lost Rs.3000/- from our room which he brought to buy a tape recorder. A great suspicion fell on one of our teammates as the culprit. It’s not only the money that was lost but we also lost games’ spirit. Division pops up among us with someone siding with the suspect. We went there in solidarity to challenge the opponent teams unitedly and get the medal but we were defeated badly. Worse, this defeats was attributed to that particular incident (or the man in question) rather than attributing to team’s defect. Returning back to School after tournament, we told the whole incident to our Head-Master. Being a learned man, he tried his best to solve the problem amicably amongst us. He did not show any sign of anger or regret for the lost in the tournament. Rather he appreciates each one of us for representing the School. He threw a grand party for us too. He then asks us to forgive one another. When some of our friends refuse to take his advice, he suggested that the amount of money lost would be given by him to the owner. Our friends retorted saying that nothing short of excommunicating the suspect from school would satisfy them. The matter goes on unsettled for two, three days. At last, he called all of us to his room and put a poignant and eye-opening question by calling each of our names. He said, “Pahrii, I am going to expel your friend Adani (name changed) from this School. Are you really happy and satisfied now?” I was speechless. This thought provoking question keeps poking my mind whenever I see people looking at things from their own ends or develop ideology out of self-interest and in due course become stubborn and unforgiving. When each individual develop unforgiving attitude, society fails to progress and attain the desired common goal. This is even true for Naga society today. Unless we forgive one another, accept one another and pursue the goal unitedly, we will never be able to achieve what we want.
Unite One: The first step towards achieving Naga people’s aspiration of right to self-determination must start with the unification of various Naga national workers’ groups (political or non-political). These groups, although has less than 1% of more than 4 million Naga populations, have the capacity either to divide or unite our society. When these groups speak differently about the same thing (issue) it confuses common people. Every individual or organization is free to express one’s opinion, but such opinion should not confuse the public. The habits of indulging in digging out unredeemable other’s past mistakes, relentlessly assassinating others’ character, and blaming one another for the present mess appears to be more of a personal or organization’s hidden agenda to sideline others and not necessarily to further the nation’s cause. This kind of habits forced the public to judge how mature or immature an individual or organization is. Our national workers must realize that they are not working for individual or for a particular organization or a tribe but for Naga nation as a whole. Unlike the past, now, this Nation has thousands of IAS officers, Doctors, Professors, Scientists, Pilots, famous Politicians, Judges, Preachers, Singers and experts in all fields. Our national workers ought to be happy because you are their leaders and responsible for their destiny too. Being a responsible leader or responsible organization of this great nation, we expect you to live an honest, reasonable and truthful life. It is very discouraging to see you criticizing one another. Unification will not come by pin-pointing others weaknesses. A good leader or a genuine organization must keep nation ahead of personal vendetta or group’s interest. This demands lots of self-restraint and sacrifice. Self-restraint is the property of people who are broad-minded and accommodative.
Unite Two: The second step must be the unification of all Naga political groups and civil organizations across Naga nation. Many Naga politicians are like chameleon changing its colour so often. They speak different thing regarding Naga political issue when they are in power and another thing when in opposition. We hardly see Naga cabinet minister sacrificing their portfolio for the cause of Nagas’ right to self-determination especially in Manipur. So often those ministers without portfolio or out of ruling party would resign in the name of Naga nation. This kind of stage-managed resignation will not gain anything. Equally worrying is the mushrooming civil bodies in Naga society with vested interests. Many of these organizations/bodies are formed without people’s knowledge and hence are unauthorized body. But they speak as if they have people’s mandate. These kind of opportunistic Naga organizations often raise its head in Manipur and create lots of misunderstanding and division among different section of people and tribes. Any civil body/organization claiming to be representing the whole tribe or nation should have peoples’ mandate. These organizations need to rise above suspicion especially like respected Naga Hoho, United Naga Council, etc.. They should neither be an instrument of state (government) nor that of any particular underground group or tribe. When these organizations are being used by these forces, practically they become non-existence. What we need today is to create or form a broad-based-joined-platform represented by various Naga politicians and leaders of civil organizations across Naga nation. We need to have clear-cut aims and objectives of our Movement. Pursuing different goal and issuing different press statement by different political (including underground) groups and civil organizations in different States in the name of Naga nation marred our cause and confuses people. What is our Common Goal? Without definite common goal or vision, it will be difficult to unite. Unification has to be on the basis of common goal.
Unite Three: The third stage of unification would be among the common people who formed the bulk of population. So far, their voices were not heard with sincerity. I’ve heard many people saying with regret that whenever they tried to help national workers with suggestion or correct their misbehavior, they would be threatened as challenging the Nation. Who is a nation? Whose freedom? Why such threats? It is perilous to neglect to listen to the needs and voices of common people because it is them who keep the movement going by supporting financially and with human resources. Unfortunately, as far as Naga political movement is concerned, they are considered powerless. However, can the movement survive without their support and co-operation? No. As much as fish cannot live without water, the movement cannot survive unless it has grass-root level support from the common people. It is no secret that Maoist movement in India is growing very fast because of the support of people from grass-root level. The finished off operation of Sri Lanka government against LTTE is a telling signpost for the Nagas too. When Sri Lanka govt succeeded in creating a line between the common people and LTTE, the once ‘unputdownable force’ of LTTE was crushed. A Good Lesson for us to learn. The only hope left for Nagas to achieve their desired goal is through unification.
Conclusion: India has more than one billion population. More than 70% of its population may not know who the Nagas are and what we are fighting for? Once we crossed West Bengal, our identity is questioned. Often people from mainland India use to ask, ‘Are you from Nepal? Japan? Burma? Korea? etc.’ When we reply, “we are from Nagaland?”, they would say, “Oh, ya ya…Netherland…Netherland, good…”. Who cares to know us and our cause? Brothers and sisters, unless there is unification within the Naga families, we cannot make ourselves known to others as people with distinct identity and unique history. We cannot make known our Rights as Right. Without unification our political rights will be considered as Law and Order problem of a State created by a section of people. For any genuine solution it must start with the unification of all Naga families from all walks of life. The best starting point of unification would be the unification of Unite One, followed by Unite Two and finally Unite Three. As long as we remain divided we (Nagas) will continue to be the main stumbling block to our own cause. The greatest enemy to Naga political problem is neither the Meiteis nor the Indians as propagated by many people. The greatest enemy to Naga protracted political problem is disunity and division among the Naga families. A divided house/society cannot achieve anything. Unless we overcome this division there is no hope and hence no future for Naga people.
Unification must come but not in the manner of a big fish swallowing up the whole smaller fish into its belly and make them invisible. Unification will not happen if a powerful group or organization or tribe tries to swallow up other groups or organization or tribe into its fold. It cannot be forced upon. In unification everyone great and small, strong and weak must be visible and respected. In it, there should be acceptance of one another as they are. In it, there should be acknowledgment of one another’s achievement and contribution. In it people should be able to walk side by side without any fear. In it people should be able to work hand in hand. In it, people should be able to express their opinion freely. Most of all, there should be shared responsibility and shared leadership role. Unification demands sacrifice - sacrifice of personal or organizational vendetta, fame, and leadership roles for nation’s greater common good. When will this happen?
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