Taking the Naga public for granted

Dr Kakheto Zhimomi

Every one of us, at some point or another, are guilty of believing that people we care about and trust will always be there for us and will always be available. But I am afraid that is not necessarily so. Believing tall promises made in every elections made by politicians, the gullible voters are either lured or forced to vote for a particular candidate only to see him later joining the bandwagon of the rich. More than 40 years of Statehood has lapsed but the Nagas in the villages are still sadly crippled by the shackles of economic segregation and chains of discriminations. Majority of the Nagas still live in the lonely island of poverty in the midst of vast ocean of money flowing down from Delhi. It is time for the young Nagas to dramatize the shameful condition of the present day. This is not time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy; now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of exploitation to the sunlit path of justice. Now is the time to remove the prolonged suppression of the majority poor by the money power of the minority, depriving even the most intellectuals young Nagas of the deserving jobs. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of this moment.

2005 is not an end but a beginning. Those who hope that the young Nagas needed to blow off steam and will now be content, will have a rude awakening if the people in the highest echelon continue to ignore the cries of the students. The students are crying for scholarship, free text books and justice in selection for jobs and unless the unscrupulous people in authority immediately wipe out their tears, it will turn into venom. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in Nagaland until the students’ demands are made. If the embezzlement of the public exchequer by both politician and government servants continue unchecked, the disparities between the haves and have-not widens and subsequently the whirlwind of revolt in the near future may cost more lives than the lives lost in the struggle for Naga cause. 

The materialistic church in Nagaland have encouraged the perpetual thugs to continue their nefarious activities which has bled the Nagas white and demolished the fabric of closely knitted Naga society. Now the only remedy lies in the new generation. They should turn to the word of God and search the truth by themselves rather than depend on the traditional and monotonous pulpit lectures.

On the other hand the so called struggle for the freedom has turned into intractable internal conflict, as the State has been besieged for decades by fratricide and violence for money. There are no more fights amongst the equals – what we call peace but the innocent and the defenseless are still always in the receiving end. Majority are at the mercy of a handful who feed their children out of someone else’s hard earned money while the NGOs in the State praises the party concerned for ushering in peace. If the present situation is what we call peaceful, Hell might be more peaceful.

It should be our dream that one day every valley be exalted and every hill and mountain of pride and puffed up be made low, and the crooked places be made straight and the glory of the Lord be revealed, and all flesh see it together.

The writer is a former minister and an active social activist.