By Asangba Tzudir
The readers of this paper might flip through the pages of today’s edition with a tinge of nostalgia being the last day of 2025. Even as we all eagerly await the New Year 2026 with mixed feelings, for all the ‘whatever’ reasons, in a fleeting moment the year 2025 comes flashing through mentally imaging, and we don’t want to let it pass by. The last day will make way for the New Year. However, will it just be a passage to another new day? Will there really be newness of hope in the phrase, “behold the old is gone; the new is born.”
However, as Nagaland await the newness, deep within it is troubled and once again finds standing at familiar crossroads caught between longing and patience, frustration and faith. The year 2025 gave us enough reasons to heave a sigh, yet not to the extent to surrender hope. And as we prepare to step into the New Year 2026, the question before the Naga people is not merely what will the new year be like, but the larger question is the longing for a breakthrough.
Yes, the year 2025 was marked by a mix of promise and paralysis. The long-pending Indo–Naga political issue that has so far continued to hover in the air of uncertainty; the deepening economic dependency syndrome; the stubbornly high unemployment rate, and the social media amplified divisions even as real dialogue evaporates. Yet, amid the depressing scenario, there were promising and very significant signs of resilience though in bits and pieces, yet we have been a witness to emerging young entrepreneurs trying new ideas, civil societies taking a pause to understand the underlying truth while in the pursuit of speaking truth to power, churches calling for repentance, renewal and reform, and ordinary citizens choosing honesty in small, unseen ways.
These are incentives from where hope for the New Year springs for Nagaland. Hope for 2026, therefore, will not arrive as a dramatic breakthrough overnight. Considering the context, it is more likely to come in steady, incremental forms though it largely depends on the choices we make, the reform processes we create, and how the people of the land reform with a renewed commitment towards collective responsibilities.
First, there is hope in mature politics and to create a start towards unity. It’s been really long and the Naga people have paid a heavy price for this prolonged Naga Political issue. As we enter 2026, we hope that all stakeholders - political leaders, negotiating groups, and civil bodies will act with greater sincerity, unity, and transparency. Hope does not lie merely on agreements on paper, but in a political culture that values accountability over rhetoric and people over power.
Second, there is hope in economic self-belief. Government jobs can no longer be the sole horizon for Naga youth. There is hope and belief that the coming New Year will offer an opportunity to strengthen local entrepreneurship, agri-based industries, tourism rooted in culture rather than spectacle, and skill-based livelihoods. If supported by honest governance and practical policies, 2026 can be a year where Nagas reclaim the values of dignity of labour and where dependency syndrome gives way to practical growth initiatives.
Third, there is hope in societal healing. It requires unlearning of the past towards envisaging new perspectives. Nagaland has often spoken of unity while practicing fragmentation on tribal, denominational, political, and generational lines. The New Year calls for deeper introspection. Unity cannot be enforced by emotional slogans, but it must be nurtured through empathy, listening, and a willingness to disagree without dehumanizing one another. Hope for 2026 lies in rebuilding trust starting from within families, communities, and institutions.
Fourth, there is hope in spiritual renewal, and the revival and healing wave should continue to keep the spiritual thirst alive. As a deeply faith-oriented society, Nagaland cannot ignore the gap between confession and conduct. Corruption, intolerance, and moral compromise cannot be wished away by religious language alone. The hope of the New Year rests in personal transformation where faith inspires integrity, compassion, and courage to do what is right and also speak the truth even when it is inconvenient.
Finally, there is hope in the everyday Naga life and living. It lies not in grand announcements or central projects, but in teachers who recommits to teach sincerely, officers who refuse bribes, parents who raise children with values of what it really means to be a good human, and youths who choose service over cynicism. History is a witness to the fact that societies change not only through leaders or through the government of the day, but through ordinary people not doing different things but in making extraordinary choices with the will to do the same thing differently.
As 2026 dawns, Nagaland will still face unresolved questions. But hope does not require the conditions and the setting to be perfect. It rather requires the resolve to be honest. Each day of 2025 had lessons to offer, and if the lessons are taken seriously, the New Year can be less about talking and waiting for change to happen and more about really becoming it. This requires a shared responsibility and wherein lies the truest hope for Nagaland and its people.
And if it is not too much of an asking, can we all pledge to keep Nagaland litter-free.
(Dr. Asangba Tzudir contributes a weekly guest editorial for The Morung Express. Comments can be emailed to asangtz@gmail.com).
