Tungshang Ningreichon
It takes only a few to start and spread a mini revolution. Three men; Seth, Chamroy and noted folk blues singer Guru Rewben Mashangva came together and did just that. Seth and Chamroy, activists and critics of our time conceived and composed a song for Wuhan to express solidarity with China as it battles with the outbreak of corona virus that has claimed many lives and has the potential to claim many more.
The song was sung by Guru Rewben this Lui-Ngai-Ni (Naga seed sowing festival) in Ukhrul. The song which was recorded by Haography went viral and rightly so because it lighted hearts in a time of “despair”.
It is perhaps the most political act of the Naga people at a juncture when there is conscious attempt to not only distort our story and struggle but also our history and memory.
Ceasefires with the Naga groups have changed the way the State wages war against the Naga people. By now we are well aware that psychological warfare during peacetime is far more threatening as it begins to attack and shred the minds and morale of the people. The present confusion and division among the Naga people today demonstrate that these non combat tactics have reduced a peoples’ movement that had a clear political direction, into an organizational affair. They have changed the course of a peace process that carried the prayers and hope of the people into a web of impossibilities.
While the Naga civil societies have been co-opted and ordinary people disenfranchised from political processes, we pay little heed to a more intense militarization in our land. There are armed confrontations and siege in the Naga Hills happening every now and then. Armed Forces (Specials Powers) Act (AFSPA) is extended every six months in Nagaland. A war memorial by the Assam Rifles was erected in Mokokchung recently, one that is not only disrespectful but blasphemous to our collective memory and to those Nagas who gave up their lives so that we maybe a free people.
Our leaders who are engaged in the peace process are being targeted and incarcerated. The deplaning of a well known human rights activist, Neingulo Krome, is a loud signal that our movement and mobility too is not in our control. This is not the first time. We know of Luingam Luithui, the first Naga in exile who was rendered stateless for years and forced to take Canadian citizenship. His case is still unresolved.
If there is one thing we can do to reclaim our strength and story, it is to show solidarity with the persecuted and those suffering around us. To say ‘We are with you Wuhan’ is more powerful than writing a memorandum to the Prime Minister of India. To pray for them and share their grief is better than being indifferent. To be with the women and the protest in Shaheen Bagh is better than assuming that Citizenship (Amendment) Act does not affect us. To be with the people of Kashmir in their darkest moments is better than our silence. To be with the families of political prisoners is important because we will be next!
If there is one thing the Indian leaders today are nervous about, it is the shared love and solidarity among people.
It is compassion!
Let us be fearless about it.
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