Kedi Haralu
As I was going through a teaching one thing that kept popping up was “Culture & Heritage” and being a Naga I am proud of my Heritage and my culture, plus every book written on either the Northeast, especially Nagaland, is all about our Naga culture and heritage. Politicians use this as a vote puller, Bureaucrats use it to get Sanctions or funds and all the better, subsidies. from various Union Ministries, NGO’s use it to get special Aid and finance, Organizations use it to boost its cadres so that they become completely loyal and committed to the Naga Cause, then there are the business community who use it for Business establishments such as tourism and hospitality, e.g. Horn Bill Festival, writers and scribes use it to get the attention of their readers and individuals use it to ascertain their rights and most significant is the Church, who uses it to expand their congregation and build satellite Churches in and around their District or State. It is our culture and heritage that has bonded us as one, for Nagaland has a unique culture and Heritage, where there are numerous tribes, sub tribes, and clans, and we have come together as one, a Naga.
But what I have experienced is somewhat different, for it is culture and heritage that has given birth to tribalism and other ‘isms.’ We should never forget our culture and heritage and we have to pass it on to the next generation and the next, but it is also important that we do not live out of it. Culture and Heritage is like a code based on and with certain principles our forefathers and fathers had laid, not in writing but from one hearth (fireplace) to the other till the day the written dialects were formed, thus documenting old record, stories and fable and folklore. But unfortunately the reason we are so behind when comparing ourselves to Mizo’s and the Dravidians in the Southern part of India is that, we as Nagas have given too much importance to Culture and Heritage. Our multi-ethnic Culture ha divided the Nagas, where we see it portrayed even in the Government regardless of party that is ruling the State. As a Scandinavian Scholar once wrote “Culture and Heritage makes a good servant, but a terrible master.” He had written this as the Scandinavians and the Baltic people started to form their own State and country. Hitler, Tito, and the Royalty of Japan, based their war i.e. 2nd World War, on this principle, a principle is still amongst the Western Countries who play god’s with all the wealth they have and accumulated – they call it “Aryanism, where the world would be one perfect Society, of one race and one people.”
The truth to the whole Naga issue is that we do not have an identity (such as the Punjabi’s or Bihari’s or Bengalis, where they can bond wherever they go). If you have studied overseas, you will understand what I mean. Thus to counter this we have built ourselves a castle of Culture and Heritage, where there is turmoil within itself. One tribe is pitted against the other, Governments are always one tribe majority, plus due to different ideologies we have factional divides, causing more bloodshed then the Indian Army in their countries campaign to put down the rebellion of this small State, way beck in the days of our fathers. Tribalism has also entered our very foundation as a Christian thus we have Churches of different tribes regardless of denomination. Nagas can never come to a compromise since we live and breath and walk on our Culture and Heritage, thus there will always be a divide between Political Parties, factions and even our Churches, hence I just cannot see Nagas coming together as one, in action and not in words only, where if given an opportunity I could even hold a Seminar so as to point out the root, the cornerstone, of our Nationhood or Statehood. With all the differences, bitter experience and the blood shed of all these years from the day our fathers decided to form a Naga Nation till this very day, it is rather hard to believe that Nagas will one day become one – this day will come, and as we term it “only after the Second Coming of Christ,” where infact, the world will become one.
In conclusion, it is a hard truth to bare and bite, but as long as we are bonded by our Culture and Heritage (don’t get me wrong, for I am proud of my Culture and my Heritage) there will be no solution, be it politically or ideologically, but the silver lining is that we can always learn to adjust and move ahead and also live for the future and not the past. To this day I recall a suggestion made by one of our main Leader in Nagaland, (which I am in total agreement with), is to have a Government out of Selection and not Elections, then there will be no political rivalry, no factional rivalry or tribe rivalry. Thus every tribe would select their candidate to represent them in the Legislative Assembly, which will discourage corruption and the “Money Spending” during the General Elections (Since the usual practice of our present scenario is based mainly on the recovery of the Money Spent during elections and only after that comes the interests of his Constituency, fulfilling his Commitments then in the end only, the interest and welfare of the State. Actually I do not blame them for this, for the public has become so shameless, that they go from one Candidates Camp to the other during elections, gathering the money given due to guarantee of public support. It is impossible to serve two maters). If I am not wrong, he had even suggested this to the Union Minister of the Union Ministry of Home in a meeting at New Delhi.
