Imkong Walling
There comes a stage when a person has to make a call, an informed choice that would shape the life ahead. Fresh graduates face this juncture as they prepare to transition from academia to bread-earning. But then, as opposed to the ideal version, life is not as simple. Life is a composite of several different events, of multiple crossroads, of missed chances and how they are dealt with.
The Naga story also takes a similar tone. It is a long and winding narrative, with underlying plots, playing out for over a hundred or so years, interjected in between by intrigue, twists and several life-changing crossroads. It has seen many different players and as many split camps. Some hard decisions have been made along the way, from a memorandum to referendum and the subsequent agreements, only to be left hanging and frustrated.
At face value, the frustration was evident in the recent public rally in Dimapur called by a newly floated Nagaland People's Action Committee (NPAC).
But the rally also added a new dimension to the entire story. It brought to the public domain an undercurrent that has been brewing for quite some years i.e. a Nagaland-centric sentiment favouring a solution based on the prevailing political reality. What was not expressed clearly in public and only alluded to via broad terminology finally had to be pried open.
As elicited by the NPAC, it desires a solution based on the “contemporary reality” without redrawing the boundaries of Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland states. The implied desire or alternative arrangement, though not categorically spelled out, imagines giving greater autonomy to the Nagas outside of Nagaland.
While the argument sounds justified, what was not considered is the sentiment of the Nagas living in Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and also, in Myanmar. Is the Naga civil society across the Naga contiguous areas in on the idea proposed by the NPAC? And the bigger question, would it solve the Naga political issue once and for all?
Furthermore, it would only serve well to not only pressure the government of India but also the other negotiating parties. Mediation cannot come to fruition without compromise, in other words, each party making certain concessions.
Today, the Nagas are facing another crossroads with two recent agreements— Framework Agreement and Agreed Position in frame and Frontier Nagaland, Nagas of Nagaland and Greater Nagalim hanging overhead. What next?
The writer is a Principal Correspondent at The Morung Express. Comments can be sent to imkongwalls@gmail.com
