The Republic Day Message By Brig. (Retd) S. Singnya, Kedahge, Federal Government Of Nagaland at the 59th Naga Republic Day On 22nd March, 2014
My dear countrymen and women,
On this very special occasion, as the nation celebrates her republic, I greet you all in the name of our Almighty God. We must honour and show our deepest respect to the founding fathers of our nation. It is through their wisdom that our nation became a republic based on our historical and political rights. Our journey has never been easy then and now struggling to assert ourselves. Yet, one thing remains certain and that is, deep within us we know that we are born to be free as any other nation. This knowledge of freedom has stood the test of time and suppression.
As we commemorate the 59th years of our existence as a republic, we must take time to celebrate the courage of those who have guided us with their vision and as we recount the contribution to the formation of our nation, we must rededicate ourselves to the same path without losing our national identity. Today, I shall not repeat myself with the history which we all hold dear to our hearts but redirect your minds to issues that are facing us as a people and a nation lest we lose our focus.
We must move in the best way forward to achieve our goal. The choice before us is to talk about our past and reminiscent with regrets and avoid following the path charted for us or to place ourselves within the historical framework of the past by placing ourselves in it and follow the path till our historical rights become our rights expressed in full freedom and zest. What is becoming clear in this modern day world is that, we are divided in defining who we were and what we must be now. Our nationalism is in great menace.
The Naga nationalism is becoming a sad commentary because we seem to be losing the spirit that gave birth to our nationalism. We are coward down by modernism and ideology that says “the world is changing and we too must change.” But this is the language of those who play the politics of convenience and adaptation. Rights, whether it be birth right, historical right, political right or any other will not change until those rights are legitimately established. In this context, we are on the verge of deserting the good old way of nationalism which is founded on courage, courage to believe that Nagas are different and unique people group. Our nationalism is becoming existential in nature. Our nationalism is at the threshold of losing its identity and the fear of evolving into a nationalism of convenience stands before us as our greatest challenge. This is where we must define ourselves as a people and as a nation founded on the historical and political reality of the past when we were hardly civilized in the modern term.
We must come to the realization that our greatest enemy is not from without but from within. Until we murder this spirit within ourselves we will continue to contend within ourselves and give ways to the outside force to take advantage over us. We have seen this force outside of us taking advantage of at every turn of event. We know we cannot trust them nor bank on them but as much as we know, we still stand worlds apart from each other because we are suspicious of one another. But if there is any hope that is left in us, it is this fact that we must travel back to the past to reclaim our rights that was declared in unity and trust and struggled together with pride and dignity.
Inasmuch as we have been ruled and dominated against our will by a power that is strictly selfish in nature and political in its attitude we must show that we have in us the strength of moral power, the power to suffer for truth. But in order to do so, we need a resolute and determined spirit in the face of our present circumstances. We should not be betrayed by civilization and advancement. Civilization says; the past is always old and outdated whereas, advancement says, the new is always best! If our opponent would use its force to weaken our strength, that is not civilization- a civilized nation and world power as they aim to be must use its power to rescue and help the weak rather than build hatred in the minds of those whose struggle is to put their foot on a long cherished dream. If they so insist to suppress our freedom as a nation we must muster our strength and acquire power enough to resist her intrusion. This can only come from within us and we must work on it till that becomes a reality.
In the midst of opposition and distrust from others we must become strong and more efficient in building our minds and free ourselves from ignorance and servitude. In this, our greatest enemy which is within us can be overcome when we free ourselves from the suspicion which often permeates our mind leading us to become captives of our own actions. This we must overcome now and join hands to embark on the path of responsibility. We must believe in our heart that there is a future before us and that, that future is waiting for those who are morally rich and are determined and resolute to make that their own.
Knowledge and adaptation is important as a nation but we must not import knowledge that would destroy the very fabric of our nationalism. Today, in the name of civilization and advancement there are certain group of people who are trying to absorb lessons in the name of modernity, a history and interpretation that is contrary to our ancestors. We must realize the danger of attempting to popularize our national issues in the same plane of existential knowledge. A time will come when this will happen but we must stay strong and commit to the basics of what our leaders of yesterday had enshrined for us as a nation. Our history is our inheritance and to sell out this would mean a total sell out of our rights!
Finally, may it be known that we do not live in other people’s space and time, our land (space) belongs to us and our history (time) is our history. So what is ours cannot be crushed by might. Our strength lies in this and it will forever be until such time when we can all say, the end has come and a new beginning has begun.
My prayer is that God will give us the grace to help us to be patient in times of hardship and the wisdom to guide us in difficult times of hardship as we journey forward.
May God bless you all and KUKNALIM
