Besesayo Kezo, IPS
Retd DGP
Dimapur, hailed as Nagaland's commercial heart, brutally reflects a microcosm of both the state's and India's most glaring contradictions. It is not merely a stage for modern civilization's dualities but a stark spotlight exposing its most troubling paradoxes. The city is notorious as a breeding ground for arms trafficking and the festering sore of underground faction criminality.
Lured by the siren call of economic opportunity and connectivity, a relentless tide of individuals, not only from diverse Naga tribes but also from external communities, has washed over Dimapur, resulting in a devastating exodus from traditional hill villages. This demographic tsunami has recklessly transformed Dimapur into a chaotic collision of ethnicities, religions, cultures, and races. While some naively celebrate this cultural collision as "enrichment," the harsh reality is that each community fiercely clings to its distinct identity and cultural heritage, leading to uneasy intermarriage and a superficial integration of identities.
Many residents, blinded by nostalgia, resist this inevitable change, pathetically perceiving these transformations as a mortal threat to their precious traditional cultural identities. This discussion will primarily dissect the self-destructive identity politics of the Naga people.
Identity Politics: A Self-Inflicted Wound
The term "Naga" is loosely and often inaccurately used as a broad classification, encompassing various tribes scattered across India and Myanmar. For centuries, settlements stubbornly clung to the foothills of the Naga Hills; however, the establishment of Nagaland as a state triggered a disastrous surge of migration from traditional villages to urban centres, with Dimapur as the primary casualty.
Economic opportunities and the tantalizing illusion of enhanced connectivity with the broader world have acted as irresistible magnets, callously pulling numerous Nagas from their rural communities into the chaotic vortex of Dimapur.
This influx of newcomers has ignited a fierce, almost paranoid apprehension among the Naga population, desperately clinging to preserving their fragile cultural identity. In a pathetic attempt to shield themselves from the perceived threats of interacting with those of differing linguistic, religious, cultural, or customary backgrounds, many Nagas have created insular mini-villages throughout Dimapur. These tribal-affiliated enclaves serve as pathetic communal echo chambers, fostering a false sense of security in an alien and unwelcoming environment.
Nostalgia of Migrants: A Shackling Delusion
Individuals foolishly migrating from rural backgrounds to newly settled areas often carry a crippling village-oriented mentality and worldview. In a regressive attempt to recreate the comfort of their previous existence, they stubbornly cling to outdated traditional village justice systems, attempting to impose them on their new surroundings to address criminal and civil matters. These archaic systems clash violently with the established legal frameworks of the region.
Consequently, the metropolitan city of Dimapur is tragically transforming into a backward traditional village, suffocated by obsolete laws and regulations that are wrongly regarded as sacrosanct. This stubborn adherence ultimately sabotages the effective implementation of the rule of law. This community displays a shocking reluctance to abandon their tribal court system for the contemporary judicial framework, which they irrationally dismiss as inefficient and agonizingly slow in delivering what they perceive as justice, pardon, and punishment.
A glaring and irreconcilable chasm exists between their traditional judicial system and modern courts; they stubbornly refuse to embrace the concept of capital punishment. Instead, they pathetically resort to exile, with the duration determined by the severity of the offense. In civil cases, resolutions are insultingly reduced to mere compensation for damages incurred by the supposedly aggrieved parties.
The community tenaciously clings to several fundamental principles that govern behaviour: shame (social disgrace), taboo (actions prohibited by divine decree), and fear (consequences of divine retribution). While potentially effective in a limited context, these principles serve as crude mechanisms of social control, attempting to bully individuals into conforming and discouraging them from engaging in irresponsible, dishonest, or dishonourable conduct.
Furthermore, these newly migrated villagers harbour a delusional desire to reinstate the traditional justice system and its accompanying social controls. They arrogantly perceive a significant deficiency in the current administration of justice and the broader societal framework, which they believe undermines the effectiveness of social governance.
However, it is crucial to emphasise that customs and traditional practices are frustratingly non-uniform, even among the diverse Naga tribes and villages. Individuals stubbornly uphold their cultural traditions while hypocritically fostering an independent spirit, hypocritically demanding that their rights remain uninfringed. Inevitably, conflicts erupt between two or more villages with differing customs; these disputes are addressed quickly. The resolution process relies on a disturbingly simplistic set of principles regarding the punishment of offenders and compensation for victims, determined solely by the perceived severity of the situation. Alarmingly, timely intervention is deemed crucial to prevent the escalation of disputes into more significant conflicts between villages.
Unity in Diversity: A Cruel Illusion
The reconciliation of cultural and traditional differences among the Dimapur Nagas is vital and an existential imperative for promoting peaceful and harmonious coexistence within a metropolitan environment. Social and political conflicts are not merely likely; they are inevitable if individuals stubbornly prioritize their petty differences and attempt to impose them upon one another.
Such destructive dynamics can only lead to the fragmentation of the community into warring factions, each self-righteously justifying their actions and aggressively asserting their rights based on their narrow and archaic traditions. It is absolutely essential to hammer home the point that a distinct administrative framework governs all residents, and their historical traditions are not only inapplicable but also detrimental to the collective welfare in this context.
All stakeholders must be compelled to confront the urgent need to modify or completely abandon certain traditional practices in favour of a cohesive legal framework that impartially regulates their lives. While upholding the principles of justice is undoubtedly important, it is an undeniable truth that traditional practices cannot and must not be allowed to supersede the established laws of the land in the pursuit of justice.
Redundant and Antiquated Laws: A Recipe for Anarchy
The establishment of village-like enclaves within a metropolitan area such as Dimapur, governed by the tyranny of traditional village customs and laws, is not only counterproductive but fundamentally illogical and indefensible. Such practices inevitably lead to isolation and a dangerous detachment from external influences, directly contradicting the inescapable reality of a global village.
The very notion of opposing globalization while simultaneously acknowledging its potential advantages is a perfect illustration of an inherently contradictory and self-defeating ideology. One of the most formidable and self-inflicted challenges to Naga unity is the proliferation of numerous distinct villages, particularly within the Dimapur region, where specific villages or tribes arrogantly claim and control land resources.
These groups often fiercely resist any land acquisition by external parties and sometimes resort to intimidation tactics, callously attempting to force non-residents to vacate their territories. These behaviours expose a deep-seated and destructive commitment to village and tribal affiliations among the Naga population, which tragically and systematically undermines any meaningful efforts toward unity. Therefore, any discussions concerning Naga unification are rendered utterly futile in the face of these ongoing rivalries and conflicts at the community level.
Dividing Factors: The Cancer Within
The agonizing question remains: how can the Naga people even dare to dream of unity amidst such widespread animosity and a profound lack of mutual acceptance among their diverse groups? Educational institutions are shamefully and predominantly established for the exclusive benefit of specific tribal communities and language speakers.
Separate churches, adorned with gaudy and divisive structures, brazenly celebrate tribal prominence, often delivering sermons exclusively in local dialects. This myopic practice fosters linguistic exclusivity and elevates tribal festivals to absurd levels of importance, callously overshadowing the relevance of other languages, particularly in the face of the undeniable challenges of globalization. This fragmentation is further and deliberately exacerbated by opportunistic individuals who shamelessly seek to preserve a dying culture for their selfish gain, widening the rifts within the Naga community.
In this bleak context, A.Z. Phizo , hailed as the Father of the Naga Nation, and his associates, managed to cultivate a fleeting and fragile collective vision among the populace, fostering a temporary illusion of unity. However, in the aftermath of their departure, this vision has tragically and substantially diminished or vanished entirely, ruthlessly supplanted by the poisonous influences of his critics who oppose the broader aspirations he so passionately advocated. He dared to envision a unified people, encompassing all individuals who "bear the burdens with reef and dine on wooden plates as Nagas," boldly asserting their rightful claim to a vast territory stretching from the Brahmaputra River in the west to the Irrawaddy River in the east, which he defiantly proclaimed as their homeland.
One is compelled to ask: could the fragmented and self-destructive Nagas possibly learn from the example of Singapore, which astoundingly utilizes English as its official medium of communication in public life, fiercely promotes meritocracy devoid of corruption, and compensates government employees at levels comparable to the highest-paid CEOs, thereby achieving remarkable unity and unparalleled success without the crippling weight of corruption, all within a relatively short period?
Conclusion: A Bleak Prognosis
In contemporary society, we are confronted with a drastically and depressingly altered landscape compared to the ambitious vision articulated by early leaders such as A.Z. Phizo, who desperately sought to unite the diverse Naga communities in pursuit of collective survival and shared objectives. Tragically, this aspiration is not merely fading but actively and aggressively fragmenting.
A chilling example of this self-inflicted wound is the proliferation of villages established by Naga communities that impose draconian restrictions on access for outsiders, promoting exclusivity and deepening divisions. This phenomenon is particularly and disturbingly evident in Dimapur city, where numerous villages operate autonomously and remain stubbornly disconnected from the larger administrative framework of Dimapur, mirroring the backward characteristics of the traditional villages in the surrounding hills.
The regressive mindset, stubbornly entrenched within specific segments of the population, not only undermines human development on a broad scale but also poses significant and potentially insurmountable challenges to the collective welfare of the entire community. We are compelled to confront the agonizing question: has the very essence of Naga nationalism withered away, reduced to nothing more than empty public discourse and manipulative political rhetoric, devoid of any substantive meaning?
We must relentlessly interrogate the extent to which we have betrayed the noble vision articulated by our ancestors, who selflessly laid the groundwork for the welfare of all. While some may foolishly criticize the formation of Nagaland, it is undeniable that this state has provided essential stability and a crucial sense of identity for the Naga people.
