Can Nagas do a Scotland?
On a day of some significance for national movements in faraway Scotland and in Delhi involving the Naga peace process, though unrelated, several headway were made on both fronts. In Delhi to pursue the Naga talks, a team of the Joint Legislative Forum (JLF) consisting of elected representatives of both the ruling NPF and Opposition Congress, was able to get assurance from the Union Home Minister on fast tracking a political settlement with the different Naga political groups. The JLF team from Nagaland was unanimous in their decision stating in one voice to the Government of India that Nagas want solution and not election. While there is so much of speculation and unconfirmed reports doing the rounds on what kind of solution is in the offing, perhaps that part of the jigsaw is best left to the negotiating parties i.e. the Government of India and the different Naga political groups. What is important though is to ensure that any settlement must bring on board the other Naga groups besides the NSCN (IM). Whether Nagas are aware or not, irrespective of which group/s is in talk with the GoI, what is on offer from Delhi will remain the same. A political settlement should be understood along those lines. Therefore the Naga groups should set aside their differences and come forward with one voice as demonstrated by the over ground political leaders who have even expressed their willingness to step down and vacate their chairs to accommodate a solution to the long drawn Indo-Naga political issue.
Perhaps Nagas are still far behind when it comes to the political evolution of our national movement and identity. Take for instance the case of Scotland, which has also been demanding independence from Britain. According to their history, after centuries of bloody battles with the English, Scotland signed away its sovereignty in the early 1700s. By the late 1990s, however, it had won the right to a “devolved” Parliament, and it now has sweeping powers over its judicial system and public spending. Now Britain and Scotland have signed an accord on October 15 paving the way for a historic vote for independence that could see Scotland stand alone for the first time in three centuries as Europe’s newest sovereign state. The reason that the deal, agreeing on a Scottish referendum, to be held by fall 2014, is historic, is because this has not happened overnight or after 40-50 years but has taken centuries to take shape where the Scottish people can decide on their future—whether to become independent or stay with Britain. What Nagas can perhaps take a lesson from is the need to have a political vision for the future. A political settlement today does not necessarily put an end to Naga people’s national aspiration—to be independent and to live together under a common State. Whether in the far future the world will survive or not, this is something that we need not be bothered or even be worried about. Let us live for the present and let God determine what the political destiny of the Naga nation will be. This is the best guarantee for our land, the people, for our sovereignty and for our identity as a nation. For now let us take it step by step.
