Thepfulhouvi Solo
The answer to the question of this Write-up is quite simple: An Advisory Committee is at times a strategy the Government uses to soften or avoid a hard ‘extra curricular’ responsibility; and experienced worldly wise bureaucrats often use it to avoid himself an uncomfortable ‘jhamelah’ or shift the responsibility.
The elected members of Nagaland had earlier made a strange irresponsible decision making Rongmei from outside Nagaland an ‘Indigenous Tribe’ of Nagaland in the heydays of barrel of foreign Guns. Conceivably, the Rongme is in Nagaland begun to graze on the green Paddock of the Native ZeLiangs [Zemi and Liangmai] of Nagaland. The Zeliang of Nagaland justifiably insisted on the Government not take away the Privilege Reserved for Zeliang of Nagaland alone.
The Government fell into an embarrassing situation of its own lack of responsibility and took a long time to think a way out of the horns of dilemma.
Every Naga of Nagaland knows the Rongmei is not a Tribe of Nagaland; it has no separate Village or Tribe Territory of its own in Nagaland, and hence is not listed in the 16 Tribes of Nagaland at the time of the creation of the State on 1 December 1963.
The Zeliangs of Nagaland went to Court and the Court passed an Interim Judgment ‘staying the government decision’.
The Government could have truthfully and honestly ‘withdraw’ an earlier mistaken Cabinet decision: Everybody makes mistakes; the dishonest do not have the courage to acknowledge its mistake. Nagaland had rejected All India Service in Nagaland initially, but during Hokishe’s Chief Ministership, that narrow Cabinet Decision was withdrawn.
The Government of Nagaland need not constitute an Advisory Committee of itself to advice itself. It has every Right to its own Wisdom. What further Advisory Committee does Nagaland Cabinet requires to decide the Rongmei Case? Most interior Nagaland Tribes did not know Rongmei is Naga, even a simple illiterate Widow in the Village in Nagaland can easily decide what is due and what is not for his or for her!
The 60-elected people’s representatives of Nagaland have every right to decide for what is best for Nagaland State. The State has a population less than 2 million that selects 60 MLAs, whereas in the Indian mainland, more than a population of Nagaland selects just one Representative. Each MLA in Nagaland Legislative Assembly therefore knows his electors much more thoroughly than an MP knows his or her Electors in India.
The whole Nagaland is wholly behind the decision of its Representatives if it is in the ‘Interest of the Nagaland’. Why Nagaland Cabinet would therefore have a Cabinet Advisory Body to Advice itself to decide an Issue already known as the Right solely of its State only?
Nagaland on 1st Dec. 1963 carried for the first time the dual Responsibilities of enduring a violent Naga National Movement and managing a democratic State, suddenly acquired at one and the same time, with only a bunch of just won over mass of civil descendants of head hunters who have not seen the world beyond their Tribe. Nagaland did not have any group of foreign educated peaceful Freedom Fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Jinnah, Sardar Patel, Moulana Azad, Subhas Chandra Bose, Ambedkar and many others to start a well-established British-made structure of India to carry on.
The Naga Hoho, half a century after, had to write to the Governor (EASTERN MIRROR: 1 October 2016) to “cleanse Nagaland University”:
“Unfortunately, right from the beginning, a poor choice was made in the appointing the Vice Chancellor..., personal loyalty got the better of more relevant considerations like competence, academic eminence and personal integrity”.
What the Hoho wrote is pertinent, sensible, reasonable and very appropriate. It further rued:
“…current trend of heavy employment from other states particularly from Manipur and Assam..., sidelining hundreds of local qualified unemployed youth in the state”, and demanded “the appointment of the Head of the University by a “non-political.”
The words and Style of the communication surprisingly this time, was not their usual rustic, arrogant or threatening; their vocabulary this time was sensible, civilized, smoothly flowing, scholarly, hard hitting the Bull’s Eye and distinctly ringing.
Not as usual, the Naga Hoho itself exhibited almost the same conditions and dispensations it wanted the Governor to ‘cleanse’ in the University!
Usually, the Hoho sided certain quarter of the armed Naga National Groups, and was at the beck and call of the resourceful State Government, in every so-called high level ‘Consultative Meetings’ of the Government. Reality, reasonableness, good sense, ethics, justice, equity and welfare for Nagaland, appeared not much of Interest to the Naga Hoho.
Lack of such fine traits in the Naga Hoho resulted in the departure of 8 sidelined unprivileged major Tribes of Eastern Nagaland –the Chang, Phom, Pochury, Khiamniungan, Konyak, Sangtam, now Tikhir and Yimchungrü- from the Organization. Recently three more of the more educated and active Central Naga Tribes Council -Ao, Lotha and Sümi Tribes- dissociated themselves from the Naga Hoho despite great afford by the Government of the State to change the Eastern Nagaland decision. This left only the normally slow to act long-suffering Angami and the Chakhesang’s lukewarm presence in the Hoho from Nagaland; they also latterly dissociated themselves from the Naga Hoho for lack of magnificence.
Unconscionably, the Naga Hoho initially and more often, supported the non-Indigenous from outside the State for granting of the privileges and employment in the State of Nagaland. The Organization’s untenable stand for employment rights to the outside non-Indigenous of Nagaland is so impertinent, unconscionable to the interest of the sons of the Soil.
The Naga Hoho today is not of the Full House; it has not the support of the Naga community of Nagaland and hence it cannot decide for those who are not Represented: No Representation: No Commitment of Support. The Naga Hoho today is alive only with the help of external artificial Respirator.
The Nagaland Assembly today without a single Opposition Member has also become a wonderfully tame august House. All the Legislators of all the different Parties, including the Independents, have united into a single Pact of this mutually self-benefiting United Voice, in a facade of ‘inverse Democracy’ extolling itself up to the highest heavens, as if it is a great sign of democratic unity!
Has the Naga supposed to have the “purest democracy”- become a sham counterfeit Democracy? From where has such a strange sense come to Nagaland? This culture of flip-flop behaviour, of fear and superficial hypocrisy, wasn’t before found here or there in Naga Hills and Nagaland 42 years ago.
So much is the mutually feared friendship inside the Assembly that none has the courage to ask any questions on any of the Businesses of the August House, that it was closed sine die “sai-ne-dai: without any future date of resumption” in just one 15 minutes of the Assembly Session!
Surprisingly even the Congress supported its opponent Government of the State in the unreasonable recognition of the Non-Indigenous as ‘Indigenous of Nagaland’! Like the Galatians in the days of Paul, some strange Spirits must be bewitching Nagas of Nagaland! The Members of the august House, all of them, lock-stock and barrel, behaved like Kangaroo Court, supported the Solution of the unseen Indo-NSCN (IM) political accord, without the slightest idea of what the Accord contains, not even a few of the Principal Points of the so-called ‘Framework Agreement’ of 2015. The rural villagers in particular have not heard even the slightest idea of it, and do not know whether it is a living thing or a non-living rock!
What kind of public leader would join all the other parties in a State? They have no politics of their own: certainly, something is amiss in the Politics of Nagaland. Reality and conviction are buried underground; morality and ethics are kid-play of hide & seek, they are engaged the whole time: they never have any time for public debate and discussion of honesty and truthfulness.
The State has arrogantly become the Ruler of the Land enactment of ‘Land and Mineral exploitation Laws’ in the name of development and take away Land Rights and Privileges from the Landowners. The British exited the European Union, ending, as they say, the European Parliament’s power to make Laws for the British. They vowed they would make Law for themselves in the British Parliament to suit themselves: Nagaland Legislative Body has every power to decide for itself on Matters of the State for themselves.
As for the Church, it is to act like Prophets of antiquity instilling the Spirit of God in the secular Kings and the Lords of the Land; and remove false Spirits from ‘Reproach of the Land’. In Nagaland, it blissfully continues the Word in words, disproportionately little in deeds. Most Churches run like elected autocratic Government without the Opposition; every Honoured Member says ‘Aye’ to whatever the ‘dynasty’ in the Church says.
God did not speak a single word to his children -the Jews in Egypt- for 400 years, and except for a precious few, it appears, the ‘Word’ of the Gospel does not speak to the people in the current dispensation of the people in the Church in Nagaland!
One of the foremost proponents of the Good News of the Word, Paul did not take Words alone to the Thessalonians (I Thes.1: 5):
“Our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction.”
Nagaland is significantly different from other States of India; it is in the Constitution of India. We are Indian citizens today, but we did not participate in Indian history or its civilisations: and we are not Indians; nor are we ‘Schedule Tribes and Schedule Castes Group’. We are ‘Naga People’ become Christian, not converted from Schedule Castes. The elected leaders, starting from the first Minister to the last back bencher in the Nagaland Assembly, need forthrightly stand for the rights of the people.
The greatest challenge Nagaland faces today to its political leaders, their followers and to every individual Naga of the State is to keep a respectable distance from the Politics and the political Parties from the outside and preserve the indigenous geniuses and Value Systems of the Naga. May God help!
