Khrietuonyü Noudi
In criminal investigation cases, the one caught with the smoking gun in his hand is considered the apparent culprit and the investigating agencies would zero in their focus on the man. And more often than not, the man found with the smoking gun in his hand is proven to be the wrongdoer and punished according to the established laws of the land. The term ‘found with the smoking gun’ is usually used to denote the apparent culprit or the one responsible for the mess or crime.
Many people consider Nagaland to be in a mess today and we have the tendency to put the blame on one another rather than looking inwards at ourselves. In fact the blame-game in Nagaland can be traced back to the times before the Britishers left the Indian subcontinent in 1947. In other words, we have been, in one way or the other, trying to put the smoking gun in the hands of one or the other entity ever since our serene way of life has been disturbed by outsiders.
First, we blamed the Britishers and portrayed them as the one with the smoking gun in their hands. We blamed the Britishers for intruding into our lands uninvited and thereby binding our story with the story of colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent. The interference of the Britishers in our lands and affairs certainly seemed to portray a scenario wherein the Nagas were also part and parcel of India since time immemorial. However, that was not the case and our Naga leaders were wise and farsighted enough to assert that Nagas and the Naga lands had nothing to do with India. Thus, in the Naga memorandum submitted to the Simon Commission, it was clearly stated that the Nagas should be left alone as in ancient times to determine their own destiny and political fate. The result of this was that the lands of the Nagas were labeled as “excluded area” in the Reform Acts of 1935.
We were again forced to put the smoking gun on the Britishers because they did not heed to our appeals and political aspirations and left the Indian subcontinent without saying anything about the fate of the Nagas. This silence and indifference of the Britishers left us in a very vulnerable situation.
Thus the Nagas found themselves in a predicament as they were now totally at the mercy of the new Indian government. The Nagas did everything possible on their part to make the Indian leaders realize and accept that the Naga people were not Indians and that Naga lands do not fall under Indian Territory. The Naga leaders even went to the extent of meeting Mahatma Gandhi in Delhi in June 1947. Gandhi, being the great enlightened soul that he was, was able to understand the sentiments and apprehensions of the Nagas and even uttered the words, “Nagas have every right to be independent” and told them that he would volunteer himself to be shot before any Naga is shot. The Nagas returned home happy and contended that the great soul would never falter on his words.
But seven months later, the great soul himself fell to an assassin’s bullets and with his departure, the moral compass of the new independent nation was gone as far as the Nagas were concerned. The first prime minister unequivocally stated that the Nagas would never be allowed to become independent and ultimately unleashed a reign of terror the likes of which the Nagas had never witnessed even in their wildest dreams. Thus, for the Nagas, the smoking gun now shifted from the hands of the Britishers to that of the new Indian government.
The reign of terror that was unleashed by the Indian army on the innocent Naga villagers as they marched into the hitherto unexplored villages of the Nagas was something which any Naga in his/her right mind can never erase from his/her memory. The burning of the villages, the destruction of the granaries, the desecration of the people’s daily livelihood, the unprovoked firing, the inhuman tortures and the unthinkable violations of human rights across the length and breadth of the Naga homeland filled the pages of our history books from then on. After witnessing all these horrors and crimes enacted in front of their very eyes, for the Nagas the Indian army was now undoubtedly the entity with the smoking gun in its hands both metaphorically and literally.
Seeing the widespread violence and the untold sufferings, some of the moderate Nagas decided to seek a more liberal middle path which could pacify the Nagas as well as lower the bar for the Indian government who was not at all willing to accede to the Nagas’ demand for total independence. Thus these moderate Nagas asked for a full-fledged statehood within the Indian union which was a crazy and unthinkable demand in every sense.
The Indian government in its right mind should have no reason to accede to this full-fledged statehood demand coming from a tribal primitive people living in the borders of India and Burma. This picture becomes clearer when we understand that there were only 15 states in India at that time with each state comprising of crores and crores of people. So granting statehood status to a people of just a few lakhs living in its northeast frontier makes no sense.
But under extra ordinary circumstances, when the chances of the Naga story, which the Indian government had been trying its utmost to hide from the outside world, reaching the international arena became quite apparent, the Indian government found itself in the back foot and had to finally accede to the crazy statehood demand and grant the Nagas the full-fledged statehood thereby making them the 16th state of the Indian union.
Now, when this happened in the early 1960s, the majority of the Naga populace were still aspiring and fighting for a fully independent and sovereign Nagaland. So, naturally, the moderate Naga leaders who agreed to and brought about this statehood were now considered as traitors and renegades. So now, the smoking gun responsible for the mess in Nagaland shifted to the hands of these moderate Naga leaders. Thus, it is no surprise that numerous attempts on their lives were made by the Naga freedom fighters leading to the deaths of some.
So now, if we look at these episodes of our history, we find the smoking gun shifting from hands to hands. And today, who do you think is holding the smoking gun in Nagaland?
Our state political leaders often say on public platforms that developments in Nagaland are being halted because of the unresolved Naga political issue. In other words, they are trying to put the smoking gun in the hands of the so-called unresolved Naga political issue. But the question that naturally arises is “has the Indian government stopped giving funds to the Nagaland state government for developmental projects because of the unresolved political issue?” The answer is a resounding “NO”.
In spite of the unresolved Naga issue, the Indian government has been pumping staggering amounts of money into our lands. So the claim of the state government that developmental works are being hindered because of the unresolved Naga political issue is rather unpalatable. Instead of trying to put the blame (the smoking gun) on the unresolved political issue, the state government should own the moral responsibility and do the needful.
As we look around, we Nagas also have the tendency to put the smoking gun in the hands of the outsiders (non-Nagas) for capturing our entire job and earning opportunities. But here again, the smoking gun is in our own hands. Because of our mentality and egoistic attitude, we are unwilling to tread the roads that others are willfully treading.
For most Nagas, government jobs are still the most desired and coveted jobs. Of course, there is no denying that govt. jobs do ensure reliable income, job security and other benefits. But the fact remains that the state government is not here to provide jobs to every graduates and post graduates. So putting the smoking gun on the government for not providing enough employment is also unfair.
The Naga populace has the tendency to put the smoking gun in the hands of the state government for many of the messes we are in today. But as often alleged by our state political leaders, the government cannot look after everybody’s kitchen.
But it is also worth recollecting that when, under extraordinary circumstances, we became a full-fledged statehood, it was not only to placate the Nagas or to show to the world that the Nagas had willfully joined the Indian union but also to bring about the betterment, progress, development (both infrastructural and human resources) and benefits to the Nagas. And as far as these are concerned, I believe the state government still holds the master key in many ways.
