Thepfulhouvi Solo
Nagaland has come to need a New Thinking; a New Mentality to bring a New Heaven and a New Earth to the Society. There do seem the people have a common desire for political Peace but no seriousness or earnestness in the Actors. The talk for Peace appears more a foreign pass-time Package to be seen nice to the Society. It does not ring real or true. The Actors don’t seem fired for Peace. And as regards the Directors, the less said would be more prudent.
President Obama brought a new atmosphere of Consultation and Co-operation with America’s Nato Allies and the European Union; Prime Minister Cameroon ushered in a new conservative Reality to the United Kingdom: Nagaland expects a new heaven and a new earth from its elected Leaders. It is their privileged bounden duty.
The Naga Society today appears all dressed up, even with taste but nowhere to go. There was a Sense of common approach for Nagaland’s future; on 1 December 1963, the State was even nervous with Energy for development into ‘Switzerland of the East’.
Today if there is any common desire left in Nagaland; it must be the common desire of everybody to get rich. This is a strong motive and how the elected Leaders in the Government transform this motive force into Prosperity of the State needs a New Mentality, a new Conservative but progressive Mentality, of zero tolerance to Waywardness and of a new no-nonsense-attitude to everything of life.
As of now, the public Mentality appears like a Person floating in the water in a Lake on a Boat without much concern as to where he or she wants to go, just float without any effort, with no intention of going any direction but just float blissfully in the placid water. Nagaland needs a new Sense of Urgency, a new sense of Direction and a new Vision of inspired Zeal.
Government Ministers violate Traffic Rules every day; in spite the Government’s prominent Roadside Posters instructing the people: “FOLLOW TRAFFIC RULES”? The Bureaucrats and people who considers themselves somebody in the Society follow the Ministers tail; in Nagaland it has become impossible to elect a Party President before first destroying the Ballot Boxes by the Party’s own Workers; Christian Villages often prevent building other Churches in the place; the behavior of our Armed Police and of the Taxi Drivers is a mirror of the standard of the behavior of the State; our Streets are one of the dirties of the hill North East States, they are full of liters; no New Car in the Town is safe from our wild Children and their Graffito; the non-student Student Organizations and the NGOs, even some Church Organizations, find it too irresistible to abstain themselves from politics: Nagaland today needs a new heaven and a new earth of standard behavior.
The most unwelcome Factor that sours the Naga Society today however is the Tax of some of the Naga National Groups -collecting Taxes through Threats and Intimidations. Threats and Intimidations whether by a Pastor or a Ruffian is Threat and Intimidation –unlawful, hands down. An unlawful Act is Unlawful in any circumstances.
Nobody anywhere in the World likes to pay Taxes. Naga Women showed their buttocks when Government Tax Collectors first went to the Villages to collect House Tax; civilized Tax evasion is nothing secret. Only a constitutionally constituted Government alone has the mandate to collect Tax from its Citizens and that too only when the Government renders SERVICES to its Citizens. No Government has any God given Right to collect Taxes without rendering SERVICES to the people, rightly does the Bible says Tax is collected only from the subjected people.
And what can be more appalling than this that of all the people in the State, the Home Minister justifies Taxation by an Authority which does not recognize or accept the State? Nagaland is perhaps the only State, where a constitutionally established Government justifies the action of another that is not. This is infinite toleration but what Nagaland needs is Zero-tolerance to all unlawful activities. Nagaland requires a new Quality thinking to make Nagaland a New Heaven and a New Earth. It is this quality thinking that would decide the Future of Nagaland.
Who is responsible for this Acceptance of infinite tolerance in Nagaland? In a way, we all are responsible -the simple Villager, the Cultivator, the Trader, the Contractor and the Public Servants called Bureaucrats and every Citizen. We work less hours in our Office but receives full Pay, Day Laborers come to Work a little late but leaves a little earlier, the Meat we get in the Market is less in weight than we paid for, the small excess amount of money in changes for Phone Bill or Petrol we paid are too often not returned, the Sand and Stone Chips are nowhere near their stated quantity, a 4 X 6 inches Timber is always less than 4 X 6 inches. Nagaland needs a new true and real mentality; as long as we accept sub-standard things, our life will be sub-standard. If the public in the Society does not desire Reality, its Leaders would have no interest to bring it to the people.
It is the National Workers and the State Politicians who have brought Nagaland to what it is today –the good part as well as the bad part. As regards the State Politicians, it is not necessary to state all their doings here; all of us know more or less.
But they are there not by themselves, it is we who have elected them and therefore to that extent we are also involved and can not completely distance ourselves from their wrong doings. Through the Ballot Box, we gave them our consent to use Power to bring Prosperity to us all but they use the Power to enrich themselves firstly, then secondly, then thirdly, then fourthly and so on without end until the next Election.
Nagaland has progressed a lot; it is mostly these two Groups that have brought Nagaland to what it is today -the good part well as the bad part. The responsibility to correct the wrongs in the State rests squarely on them.
The Church, the News Media and to a lesser extent the Writers also play considerable influences in shaping the Mind of the State. The News Papers in particular must be credited with the Lion’s Share for doing that. The role that the Fourth State played in the molding the Naga Sense if any, in the Mental Make-up of of the State is immeasurable. Let it suffice here that Nagaland must jealously preserve it.
If Nagas are to change; they must first want to change and if they want to change, they must learn what they do not know.
Firstly, it is the British colonial Government, Christianity and the Naga National Workers that have brought out the Nagas from the mental prison of the old Naga Spirit of ‘an Eye for an Eye: a Tooth for a Tooth’ and brought them to a New level of common Naga Aspiration. This is a great mental transformation.
But the some of the Naga National Workers also must realize they are responsible for some of the worst things to happen to the Nagas Society. They inspired abductions, unjustified political violence and dictatorial tendencies in Nagas, they introduced the use of the barrel of the gun to enforce the will of the armed on the peaceful unarmed and some of the Groups are responsible for antagonizing the erstwhile Nagas goodwill towards the Naga Cause, by accumulating Property through forced Taxation.
The General Secretary of a Group has publicly stated he and the Chairman have enough money: From where did they get the money; not possibly from Foreign Aid or from teaching their Expertise to others? They are also responsible for eroding the traditional Naga simplicity and straightforwardness by Rhetoric and irrelevant Palavers ignorant Village rustics know untrue.
It would take 6 Legislative Assembly Elections for one Naga Generation to pass away; a Society can not easily be transformed immediately by magic lanterns, it would take 2 GENERATIONS to THE TOP; if that happens, that Society has transformed amazingly fast and two Naga Generations would take 12 Assembly Elections.
