I had received a written 'explanatory note with an implied threat' from Naga Ho Ho sometime during the last month for referring to them as 'Naga Ha Ha' in some of my earlier writings.
They had given me a time frame to explain...'within one week' who I was referring to as 'Naga Ha Ha'...as if they did not understand. At the risk of being excommunicated from the Tangkhul territory, I felt it beneath my sense of propriety to respond...so I did not respond...but I do so now on hindsight for an entirely different reason: to try and engage the minds of the Nagas of Nagaland to rediscover our true identity with 'honourable pride and dignity' ... at least in our own backyard if not elsewhere.
Now, what would it take for the Nagas of Nagaland to really recognise the need to restore Naga Ho Ho as our own vibrant Apex Tribal Body that it once used to be, rather than continue tolerating this embarrassingly adulterated caricature of an organisation in our midst in its present redundant form? What would it take for the Nagas of Nagaland to really learn from history and begin asserting our own thinking process independently rather than rely on extraneous irrelevant wisdom from elsewhere and also begin shouldering legitimate responsibilities on our common internal issues of interest? This is not an exercise of trying to vindictively single out or segregate one Tribe or the other. It is more to do with pragmatically dealing with our ground realities.
Naga Ho Ho was originally born as a child of a collective conviction of all the Apex Tribal Ho Hos of Nagaland to try and harness the strength of our collective leadership. Can we seriously activate our thought process and absorb this one factual beginning? We lost our steering compass somewhere along the way...albeit with all good intentions. We opened the 'membership floodgate' of Naga Ho Ho beyond our immediate geographical boundary without any set criteria. This was capitalised upon by our neighbouring brothers from Manipur, predominantly from the Tangkhul Tribe, and allowed history to repeat itself. Take a factual look at what happened in the Naga National Movement (NNM) arena: Late Mr. Suisa's handpicked few Tangkhul brothers, (who joined the NNM at a much later date after the deadly storm of death and destruction had visited almost every Naga family in Nagaland in the hands of the Indian Army), instantaneously became important Cox in the NNC/FGN infrastructure by virtue of their educational qualification. Cracks then began to slowly emerge with a Tribal tinge within FGN where cohesion was the hallmark during the war before their arrival. The fact that Nagas of Nagaland were the original people who actively initiated the dreams of Naga freedom has now become inconsequential. Without going into details, today 'they' are the ones in absolute control to arbitrarily decide the fate of the Nagas of Nagaland without declaring the contents of their 'secret pact' with the GoI.
Now check out the similarity even in our 'overground' situation. As soon as the Tangkhuls along with other Tribes from Manipur joined the Naga Ho Ho, it was ENPO, the Apex Ho Ho of our so-called "Eastern Underdeveloped Region", who honestly expressed their inability to stomach the overwhelmingly unregulated influx of a strange arrogant diet from South of the border and officially walked out from Naga Ho Ho. Despite their so-called "Backwardness" they were the ones who sensitively displayed our ancestral sense of dignity and self-respect while the so-called "Forward" Tribes slept on.
It resulted in the remaining Nagas of Nagaland becoming a minority within our own kitchen. With the further dissociation of Aos, Lothas and the Sumi Tribes from the Naga Ho Ho, we have now achieved the status of an absolute minority within "our" very own original organization. The story of the "Camel and the Arab" has literally been re-enacted in our own backyard without our realisation...the Naga Tribes from Nagaland are the Arabs out in the cold; The Camels being our Southern brothers, comfortably settled within "our" tent. Ask yourselves: With what misplaced analogy are the remaining remnants of our few major and minor Tribes from Nagaland still keeping company with the Camel that has only shown a very sharp and sensitive focus on what is happening in Manipur while remaining silently detached and uninvolved when Nagaland was burning over the recent ULB election fiasco? This is pathetically unbecoming! At this juncture, we must make a dispassionate effort to positively direct our thoughts in the right direction very pragmatically. Naga National Movement is a very complex proposition critically needing all Naga hands on deck. It is in this context that an Apex Ho Ho like a "Pan Naga Ho Ho" becomes absolutely relevant...encompassing equal representation of all our Naga Tribes from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur including even Myanmar (though not physically possible at this juncture). However, instead of creating a fresh establishment to specifically coordinate important subjects of physical and emotional 'integration' of all Nagas, we the gullible Nagas of Nagaland did not even notice the surreptitious takeover of our "Naga Ho Ho" by others and convert it into a meaningless half-measure organization of neither this nor that. Firstly, though it ought to have rightly been called "Pan Naga Ho Ho", it does not really qualify to be named as such, under the present membership status, because it does not represent any of our Nagas Tribes from other neighbouring States...except for Manipur. Secondly, the present 'Naga Ho Ho' was ill at ease to get directly involved in any internal affairs of Nagaland because of its 'out-of-state majority composition'. Nagas are not in the habit of taking advice from unknown strangers even if they are Nagas.
Any advice or directives emanating from the present Naga Ho Ho is unlikely to find receptivity from the majority of our Tribal Apex Ho Hos of Nagaland who have withdrawn from it. A stark example of earlier helpless ineffectiveness of our present Naga Ho Ho was seen during the 'Mukalimi incident' even though it had bigger presence of Nagas of Nagaland within it at that time. Their complete redundancy was further proven during the very recent 'ULB election fiasco'. Thirdly, without meaning any disrespect to our departed Leader Inothi Isak Chishi Swu, he honourably shouldered the responsibility of fronting the larger Naga frame together during his lifetime while the crucial policies were by-and-large dictated by Ino Muivah. In a similar but very dishonourable way, the present Naga Ho Ho is being fronted by Ino Ozukum from Nagaland even after being disowned by his own Ao Tribe and simply following the dictates of the 'South'...supporting the economic blockade of Manipur and giving full unreserved support to UNC against the creation of additional Hill Districts in Manipur and giving blind endorsement to the "Framework Agreement" even if the contents are unknown. The present Naga Ho Ho has most unfortunately become a mere mouthpiece of NSCN (IM) at the expense of Nagas of Nagaland. In short this organisation has really become the laughing stalk of the century in as far as the Nagas of Nagaland are concerned. It is therefore a tailor-made situation of being referred to as Naga Ha Ha.
Given the above true scenario it makes sense for all the remaining Naga Tribes to withdraw from the present "Naga Ho Ho" and join hands to reform it under an appropriate nomenclature as "Pan Naga Ho Ho" with equal Tribal representation from all our Naga inhabited regions of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland including Myanmar. It is only then that "Pan Naga Ho Ho" will be in a position to command some respect on common issues such as "Integration".
This would then relieve the present messed up identity of Naga Ho Ho to the Nagas of Nagaland exclusively to strengthen and rejuvenate it to its former status of respect within Nagaland. Nagas of Nagaland would then be able to revive this platform to voice the sentiment of the people as it should have during the ULB issue instead of forcing the Nagas to find an impromptu JCC and NTAC... who fortunately have contributed a yeomen service to the people.
Stating a comparative analysis bluntly in conclusion, our Tangkhul brothers have an independent UNC in Manipur rightly spearheading their Tribal issues within their State of Manipur and beyond even as they swallow Naga Ho Ho with their majority. The Nagas of Nagaland on the other end lost the voice that they had owned earlier while craftily being deprived of a platform to deal with our own internal affairs. This is stupidity personified that needs to be taken to the workshop for major repair.
Khekiye K. Sema IAS (Retd.) Upper Forest Colony; Kohima
.JPG)
