“Naga women are questioning: Where is our Christianity (sic)? Our democracy (sic)? Our education (sic)?” lament the members of the Nagaland State Commission for Women (NSCW), on behalf of Naga women at the rejection of the Nagaland Government on the 33 % reservation of seats for women in the civic bodies. Once again Naga women are denied our equal right as every citizen should enjoy in a modern democratic society by the myopic, limited, unenlightened, hypocrites, and regressive male-centric mentality of those that make up the Nagaland Government.
There is a myriad of emotions as I read this news far away from home, the place one talks of with much pride, never missing to stress the fact that Naga society is a democratic and equal society, with green mountains and sweet waters still flowing in the streamlets. Such are the stuffs of beautiful dreams, those that continue to keep us caged in the time capsule of our ancestors, at least hundred years ago. More later on this matter. To get to the point, a profusion of emotions swell: anger, anguish, disbelief, dejection, exasperation, resentment, chagrin, infuriation and offended upon realisation of the short-sightedness and narrow minded outlook leaders of Nagaland possess and exhibit.
Indeed, the anguish question on the role and value of the three quintessential feature of modern Naga society: Christianity, democracy and education encompass the whole discourse of equality for women in every sphere of the society. While it is important to guard against the role of religion in society, for it is fraught with perils of dogmatism and fundamentalism, it can be said that Christianity, in its early period of establishing as a religion for the Naga people, has played a relatively affirming role for both men and women among the Naga people. Christianity gave us the tools in the form of education and institutions to participate in the modern world and its economy (whichever form of economy one choses in the spectrum). Christianity initiated the Naga people into modernisation, and to be modern is to be open to new ideas, new technological developments and taken to logical reasoning as opposed to blind superstition and passive submission to oppressive and intolerant parochialism. Of course, this is much simplified, it can be more complex and the debate can continue ad infinitum on the role of Christianity for Naga people.
To make a simple and blunt statement, Naga society is a confused society with the so called leaders of the people who are unenlightened hypocrites. To state the obvious without any profound analysis, people who have spent a good part of their life pursuing higher educational and possessing research experience still think that they are living in the so called “traditional period with traditional customs”. I wonder which brand of blue jeans our ancestors wore, Levi or Wrangler or Tommy Hilfiger, which we love today and almost second skin to most of us (even though it might be from the second hand store around the neighbourhood). I wonder if our ancestors, in their traditional time, debated whether to buy a Maruti-Suzuki Swift or Hyundai i 20. My grandmother was no-nonsense woman, she would have had a Smartphone, what with twelve children and working as a woman leader in the village church, she would have needed the excellent organiser that smartphones offered.
When we talk about tradition and customs, what are we talking about? Are we trying to say that what we are today, how we live, what we eat, how we treat our ailments are the same from the days of our ancestors? Let us wake up, we have travelled far, far away from our traditions and customs of the yore. Along the way we have picked up customs and manners that our ancestors will not recognise, we have also managed to cover ourselves more than they did. We know better how to attend to ailments and treat the sick.
We are modern people with modern institutions, modern lifestyle and even modern governing system. We cannot claim to be traditional as our ancestors were, when we enjoy the facilities of modern/post-modern/technological economy with its warts and all.
To deny women their equal and right share in the society and its governance with the argument that it is against traditional customs is a lame argument and only exposes the bankruptcy of ideas and reasons to debate the issue. It exposes the grand malaise of Naga society: hypocrisy borne out of confusion. We are something with our attitude towards materialism and technology and another with our ideas and mentality.
My plea, to the educated ones, initiate and participate in public debate on the human right and equal dignity of all individuals in the society. A modern democratic society ensures the right to dissent and the protection of those who disagree with the powerful. The new system we have espoused as part of becoming modern is the democratic system, which ensures every citizen the freedom to protest, to speak up, to vote and run for election. We do not want to descend to the nadir of religious and social conservatism that fuels fundamentalism as seen in many a countries in the world today. I would say, our ancestors were brave and visionaries, to have embraced a new way of life that appeared to them better equipped for life and its living. I’d rather chose this part of the tradition of courage and openness.
Dr. Atola Longkumer
Leonard Theological College
South Civil Lines
Jabalpur, MP 482001
