Takasungba Imchen
Time never ticks backward; it ticks forward. The time is NOW. The Naga political issue isn’t just a topic for leaders or elders – it’s YOUR future, YOUR identity, YOUR responsibility. As a Naga youth, you’re not just inheriting the struggles of the past; you’re shaping the destiny of your people. The status quo isn’t working. It’s time to rise up, educate yourself, and demand change. The world is watching – what will YOU do?
How long will the Naga Issue last? Decades of the Naga Issue have fallen flat. A question we, as YOUTHS, MUST ask OURSELVES – “The clock’s ticking. What’s YOUR move, Naga Youth? How can WE be the CHANGE?” Together, the youths can turn the ticking clock into a COUNTDOWN – FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR THE NAGAS.
Rise above your clan, village, tribe, and IDENTIFY YOURSELF AS NAGA. To the Youths, enough of being the silent spectator! You must QUESTION YOUR LEADERS, QUESTION THE NAGA POLITICAL GROUPS, and DEMAND ANSWERS FROM THEM. Make them accountable and responsible. Naga Youths, break free from the command of Tribal Hohos & tribal student bodies if they push you onto the wrong path of difference. Unite as Naga Youths, not as members of your particular tribe, for a Brighter Future. Naga Youths must gird up the loin to fight the menace of the past with body and soul and to blaze the trail of the Naga Movement.
How can we as Nagas imagine over thirty Naga Political factions fighting for a permanent Naga political solution with differences among themselves? As a youth, it saddens us when the Naga Political Groups have differences among themselves, including differences even among the “Civil Society Organisations.” We look up to the leaders, yet the leaders’ actions sadden the youth, and what do we expect from such acts of leadership? The answer is SIMPLE – we expect NOTHING. A mistake of yours, a difference among yourselves, will become a folly to be remembered by the YOUTHS. History often judges from the mistakes to make decisions better. And the reality bites – unemployment is slapping us in the face, increasing year after year. Drug abuse, corruption, shrinking opportunities, and hopelessness are eating away at our communities. As long as we stand with differences, the Government of India will always have an upper hand, delay the talks, and the Naga issue will eventually go out of the window and run its course.
Reasserting once again, NAGA MOVEMENT IS A PEOPLE’S MOVEMENT. Its time - YOUTH MUST BE THE LEADING FORCE uniting the fragmented society under one umbrella to achieve a “PERMANENT, RESPECTABLE, AND HONOURABLE NAGA POLITICAL SOLUTION.” Far and wide, the Youths are the biggest asset of the future; it is the youth that shape the destiny of the future. We need unity, we need purpose, and we need action.
THE TIME IS NOW TO UNITE, ACT, and to let 2026 be a Youth-led movement – it will be the year we take back our future, let it be the year we put the final nail in the coffin of the Naga political issue. The time for the Future is Now. Let’s rewrite our story, let’s redefine our future.
“I’m a 22 year old concerned youth,
Carry not just my own dreams,
But the hope of every Naga society tomorrow.
May this voice ripple far and wide,
Touch right thinking citizens,
And stir a bright, united response
Especially from the fire of NAGA YOUTHS."
