Naga roads are full of vehicles. Concrete structures are coming up everywhere. Mega-Shopping complexes are raising its heads. Traffic jams have become the norm rather than the rarity. In a matter of a few decades, our towns will not look any different from any other city of mainland India.
Majority of almost every Naga would do anything to get into government service. We have no regards for public property. Money has become the benchmark for everything. We always talk ill of our politicians and the way they are managing our affairs but given a chance most Nagas would not hesitate to follow in their footsteps because we have in a way become conditioned to the set-up. So is there a way out?
When we see the vehicles thronging our roads and the concrete structures that are popping up in every nook and corner, the question that naturally comes to our mind is “what is the source of this seemingly booming economy?” Do Nagas have a rich reservoir of oils beneath their lands like the Middle East countries? Do Nagas own lustrous gold and diamond mines like some countries of Africa and America? Or have Nagas attained such levels of proficiency and productivity in their tasks that they are able to bring about this seemingly booming economy?
Yes, there was a time when the Nagas were self-sufficient and self-sustaining in their own world. The world did not know about them and they did not have any contact with the outside world. But still then they were able to suffice and sustain themselves by laboring and toiling in their paddy fields. Barring a few exceptions here and there, every Naga was a landowner and a hard-worker. And they were fed and brought up with the idea that it is a shame to eat without working. And they did not know what laziness was or what it meant to depend or rely on others.
But that was in the past and the Nagas have long discarded their spades, machetes and tools. So today how come many Nagas seem to be flourishing left and right even without raising a finger?
In the first part of the 20th century, the Nagas became politically conscious and alert and were able to see that they have nothing in common with their neighbors occupying the plains of South East Asia. They also clearly saw that upon the departure of the British Imperial power from the Indian sub-continent, there was a high probability and danger of the Nagas (who had always been independent, self-sustaining and self-sufficient) being thrown into the sea of Indian politics. Thus the Nagas started to assert their political rights and aspirations. But as is rightly said “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” and thus the newly Independent India, in her new found glory and arrogance, was in no way about to budge into the demands and assertion of some tribal people inhabiting the hills in the far remote areas between India and Myanmar. And thus all hell broke loose from there on.
There may not be an instant solution to all the ills that we see today in our society. But the glasses through which we are seeing these ills need to be clear and clean.
First, there is the much-hyped Article 371 (A) which we often quote and refer to as our savior and safeguard against any impending danger or intrusion. But the truth is that this so-called special provision of the Indian Constitution may not be able to stand the test of times as the Nagas continue to become more and more laidback and complacent in their attitudes and outlooks towards themselves and others. For now, this much-hyped Article may appear to be doing its job and favoring the Nagas but the Indian Parliament with a single stroke of its pen can alter or altogether abrogate this when the opportune time comes.
Then there is the case of the massive influx of outsiders into our lands. This is probably the most dangerous issue staring us in the face today and we are already facing a losing battle. We make a big deal about the ongoing foothill constructions and the railroad connections to our capital Kohima. And many of our leaders speak on public platforms with a tone as if we will reach a milestone and leap into a new era of progress and modernity once we complete these mega-projects. But I see these matters in a different perspective. In our fight against the menace of illegal immigrants, we are already at a disadvantage. And once we complete these ongoing high-profile projects, it will only make much easier for outsiders to penetrate deep into our lands with or without documents. So, while we should be happy at the developments taking place, we should also not lose sight of the impending dangers and ills.
When it comes to our livelihood, many Nagas still consider government jobs as their safest bread basket. And this mindset is responsible for making many to worship our statehood status. But if we worship our statehood status, then we need to be aware of how and under what circumstances we got our state way back in the 1960s when much deserving people all around us are still fighting for statehood status. God forbid but all will not be well with us if we are to commit the blunder of considering ourselves at par with other Indian states when, in reality, our story is smeared with the blood, tears, sweat and sacrifices of many unsung heroes.
Today there are 28 states in the Indian Union and Nagaland is also one amongst them. For many, Nagaland may just be another state. But if we take a closer look at our history and are able to grasp the tone of the times under which our state was born, we would realize that the case of the state of Nagaland is unique, special and totally different from all other states of the Indian Union. Yes, unlike other Indian states which were created out of linguistic, geographical or administrative necessity, the state of Nagaland was, at least on paper, the result of a political agreement between the government of India and the people of Nagaland. And this was why Nagaland was initially placed under the ministry of external affairs unlike other Indian states which were all under the ministry of home affairs.
It would also do us well to recollect that we were the 16th state of India and that we became a full-fledged state more than 60 years ago. Going by whatever yardstick, criteria or statistics, we did not deserve to be a full-fledged state as early as the 1960s. At that time, our population was hardly even half a million and the land area carved out for our new state was to be only around 16579 sq.km, which, it was said, was even smaller than some of the Indian districts in existence at that time. So how did the Nagas manage to get full-fledged statehood within sixteen years of India’s Independence? It was because things were getting out of control in the Naga Hills and since the Nagas was steadfast in the demand for total freedom and independence, the Indian government had to come up with something to placate the Nagas and also to save her face before the world. The result was the unthinkable full-fledged statehood status for the Nagas. And all these episodes demonstrate to us how intense, how fierce, how sincere and how genuine the Nagas’ struggle for political self-determination must have been.
While the creation of the new state for the Nagas was being discussed in the Indian Parliament, there were some leaders who wanted to name the new state as ‘Naga Pradesh’ or ‘Naga Province’. But since the Nagas wanted their land to be called ‘Nagaland’, it was finally decided to name the 16th state as Nagaland. In my opinion, the inclusion of the term ‘land’ in the nomenclature of our state itself makes our state very unique, special and foreign because no other Indian state has this term in its nomenclature.
Since the early 1960s, the state of Nagaland has witnessed many developments with financial assistance provided by the Indian government. And we are grateful for that and we continue to be grateful. But this has also projected a picture of the Nagas as being totally dependent on the funding of India and as being just identical to any other Indian state. But to categorize Nagaland as just another Indian state would be a grave injustice and misinterpretation because our history tells us that there is nothing normal or ordinary about the state of Nagaland. It is only our shortfalls, ignorance, complacency and apathy that are making many to believe that we are also just another state in the map of India.
