How authentic is the state government? Where are we going wrong and why are things not working out for us? We are better off than mainland India which reels in religion strife or communalism –the RSS trying to capture everything under the Hindu umbrella, including north-east India or South-east Asia too. Caste system burgeon the gap between the privileged and majority poor of the sub-continent, resulting also in corrupt politics, underdevelopment, neglect and poverty all across the nation. You balance that with the Naga-issue and are things really as bad as that for? So why are we still at par with these poor buggers who have to scrap off a living every single day of their lives? Have I missed out something on the way, was the Naga freedom struggle started for the benefit of the Nagas? Look where we are, how pathetic we are now.
We are under a government, aren’t we? For some of us that is a conflicting thought to embrace but when I really think about it I rather want to ask where we need to head as a people. We’ve digressed into factions and killings, extorting a man who is trying to make an honest living. And when we look into the government that we are under there are many cases of corruption or underdevelopment. Where are we heading? What are we looking at, say, in even ten to twenty years time in Nagaland?
Can we fight India?
Submit the biodata of the Naga Club, the British never conquered the Naga Hills only 30% of the land came under their control, the Plebiscite of May 1951 asked for sovereignty from India. Is that going to make a difference? Is someone going to listen to our pleas? I’m probably going to be bombarded for the stance I’m taking right now and I have been on several personal occasions but what I really want to know is whether all this makes a difference for someone else? Many lives have been lost, many human rights violations have been committed and there is a taboo over this topic, to oppose such. But atrocities, suppression of the minority has not been unknown in human history, not too far away from us is also Jammu Kashmir who have lost 50,0000 lives and still counting. I want to ask where practical reasoning can also be pumped in, we are stranded in a swamp right now. If the world does not heed us, should we fight India again? For what, another 60, 70 years?
Other north-east people have commented and also personally told me on occasions Nagas had made that difference for north-east India. Instead of caving in they had stood up to the bully. Picture this scenario, if Nagaland hadn’t taken the stance it did 65 years ago where would the north-east be on the map? Would we have been cushioning pillows against Chinese attacks (or Burmese), buttressing the borders and neglected? Perhaps it wouldn’t be surprising to expect condescending ‘mainlanders’ tell us, “You agreed to join India after all”. But look at our situation right now, we are vulnerable. We are in need of development, our economy is in tatters. Yet more than anything we need healing, we need to rise again. Is it wise to fight against India all over again for another 60 years? Do we lose out because India’s brutal might managed to suppress our physical strength? We are the north-east’s voice. We are that voice which says we are who we are. Does that really change under an Indian state government?
Ignoring history
Talk about the French revolution or the American’s or Christopher Columbus finding the West Indies but talk about our own history and how many of us have that knowledge. Somehow our education distances us further away from our context and we just fall in step. I’ve once heard this Naga boy declare that Nehru was the greatest Indian leader that ever lived and I wondered if it was the same Nehru we were talking about. Whatever has been written about Nehru has always shown the good side of his face and what he had left behind in Nagaland is perhaps a long trial of blood.
What part of our history is blotted out and what other parts are superimposed? Where do the atrocities against women, children and human lives fall in line with that gracious image of Nehru? The Indian army were looking for Naga insurgents, the secessionist Nagas but did they find it among the women they raped or the innocent villagers they butchered and tortured? These are questions that I’ve always needed some answers to. It is the balance that I’ve always needed to have in order to assess my options and alternatives. Or even to comprehend my reality.
Our options
So the 16th Point agreement made us a state under India but it wasn’t exactly because India was so generous towards Nagaland and has always acted as ‘guardian’ of the Nagas (Nagaland was the smallest state made at that, which was opposed vehemently by many other aspiring states). The international pressure from outside had compelled India to act quickly or face the United Nations’ inquiries. But the atrocities that were committed in Nagaland have been bottled up under inner line permits and disturbed area acts. Why was the 16th Point agreement opposed? The Indo-Naga war has left a bloody trial behind and to ignorantly stack our cards over that bloody pile is something that we will be putting over ourselves. The other day someone was lauding the 16th Point agreement that it brought a state to Nagaland under India and from there gave us stability or development. We are so ignorant that if politics will tell us central government is actually on our side we will believe that. We have so little knowledge of our history that we will be herding ourselves to the slaughtering house. These are the very reasons why I ask whether the state government is authentic or not? If we do not ask some harsh questions like these we are going to be bait, not the benefiters.
On one hand someone will be very enthusiastic about going all ‘Bharat’ desi. And on the other hand another group will be very nationalistic with every ounce of their body. But really let us focus on the people, on development, on rising up. What are our options? How are we going to achieve these goals? How are we going to implement the state government realistic goals for OUR development? Not conjure up hollow promises or propagandas. We need realism, we desperately need that.
