Zakie Khate
Naga story is a tale of a people yearning for self – determination, free from subjugation, dominance and control. It is a story of honour and integrity. It is also a story of restoring justice. It is not a greater or a slighter committed story than any homeland on earth. Our cause is not a reason to nurture revulsion or hostility but a cause of simplicity, a cause of respect and a cause of a story in itself.
It is simple because we defend noting more than what is ours and what we have. It is also a cause of respect because we believe that God created every nation and people on earth. We believe that we are trusted to respect other nations and people as much as we respect ourselves and the trust bestowed to us. We have struggled for more than 600 years against the Ahoms who trespassed through our lands, 115 years against the British who battered our lands, the Japanese, who assaulted us in the year 1944 and over half a century against Indian military occupation, which is continuing. To them our beloved land was just a mere theatre of war. In all these events, we have defended ourselves with dignity and we will continue to do so. We have the Indian occupational forces in every corner of our homeland, in every corner of our towns, in almost every village and in every street. On our exit to anywhere stand Indian armed personnel equipped with powers to shoot and kill on mere suspicion. This is what the biggest democracy in the world offered us. It is a fear under which we exist as human beings. No one ever loved this land except us. By our sweat, we have toiled in this harassed land for as long as history’d remember. We are grateful for we are well – fed by God in the form of the gracious Mother Nature for her abundance showered upon us.
With the advent of time and situation, we have come to a point where our struggle requires our attention to address our internal conflicts, which are swallowing up our struggle and ourselves. We are wedged in a mess today. A mess of tribalism and factionalism. It is a decaying Nation. It has become a place of hate, fear and anger. We have become a suspicious people and trust has become merely a cheap commodity. It is a place where wrongs are becoming right. It is a crossroad, a grazing ground and a battlefield – seems nothing more! We are wedged in a senseless, baseless and unfounded petty internal conflict among ourselves, justifying both of one’s own rights as well as of the wrongs. Are we to talk about building a Nation under these circumstances?
Some Nagas are silently watching our peoples’ plight as good Christians in the sideline but we must be aware that, ‘the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for the god to do nothing’- Hitler, the rise of evil (history channel). Rwanda has offered us an example of what we might surely face in the future. ‘History repeats itself’ is a common saying but it is logic! We are living as if to prove the devastating effects of history’s repetition. Undeniably, the chain of mistakes committed has continued from the process of the Naga national movement until today and we are not in a position to say who is wholly right and who is wholly wrong. It is now again eminent that some people who condemn the former to have committed treason will commit some mistakes again. We are not speaking in one voice in a common Naga platform. This is our present state of affairs, something indigestible yet an undeniable reality. It is clear that the tradition of hate, anger and violence among us will continue. Would this road lead to our aspired home is a question. Maybe the answer is a bigger mess, a failed people and a failed Nation. Just like the Hutu and Tutsi tribes in Rwanda butchering thousands upon thousands among themselves!
I believe that our struggle lies here before anything like that happens in great intensity. It is an intricate challenge to tackle this reality. Nevertheless, this is as important as sovereignty from foreign yoke. In fact, it is far more important! It is a struggle of how to live as a people, how to face the morrow or how to be prepared for the worst!
Students’ bodies and leaders have immeasurably operated as a moving force to our aspiration. It is somehow synonymous to a political lobby. In fact, serving as a pressure group it has quivered numerous regimes in Nagaland as well as New Delhi. It is a subject of overwhelming patriotism and justice as many have performed, spoke and fought in the Naga perspective for our people. Yet, the supposed to be a non-aligned serving party in its bearing has occupied a much altered stance today with exception of a few. As a student, I trust that it is a negation of ideology and responsibility. How can my hallowed NSF develop loyalty only to one group and isolate the rest, even if not completely? Reasonably, that it is for the cause. Still, our reality and state of affairs requires an additional emphasis on this before it is too late. Students’ bodies ought to make every effort to think about the tomorrow. Even if the factions will not come across the table and reunite, it is a necessity to be persistent in this endeavor. Our students’ bodies must give more emphasis on this because this is a more important struggle as a people- to live and exist mutually as a one Nation.
