
Those of us in the Naga Hills during 1945 – 1954 found the period one of the happiest Decades of the Nagas; there was no fear anywhere, no insecurity day or night even for a lone girl, everywhere everybody felt free and fearless except for stripping over unexploded Bombs of the World War II; those who stayed in Nagaland during 1955-1964 experienced a the decade of wholesale public insecurity, hunger, persecution of villagers in designated Concentration Villages, denying work in the cultivations by the undisciplined Assam Police and trained Indian Army; then Nagaland became a State, the NBCC and the Government then protected the public and the Villagers; the year 1964 came with Church sponsored Cease Fire between the Government of India and the Federal Government of Nagaland; active war stopped; after that, one of the saddest moments in the history of the Naga Movement happened when some leaders of a naga community connived treacherously with the adversary to sell the Naga Movement; 1975 found the coming of the Indian Emergency and some innocent Opposition Politicians were jailed (Kevichüsa, Vizol and SC Jamir escaped it) under MISA –maintenance of internal security Act and Nagaland was pushed under NEC against her will but one important thing happened, –all the surviving Naga National Prisoners incarcerated in Nowgong, Hazaribagh, Tihar and various other Indian Jails, were released under the now much maligned Shillong Accord on promise of good behavior to the great welcome of all Nagas; then a darkest days followed with the emergence of National Socialist Council of Nagaland with Communist Mao-tse-Tung’s philosophy of ‘barrel of the Gun’ for the solution of the Naga Political aim and resulted for the first time in factional killings of Nagas by Nagas:
Of all the Peoples of the North East, the Nagas have borne the heaviest burden of this difficult suffering Human Life.
Today in some 60 years, the Naga Political Movement is in a hopeless Mess with hydra headed Groups each claiming they are the only True Naga Political god!
All the Groups have come short of the Perfect, all of them have sinned, none is Perfectly Right; the Naga Public knows this!
The Government of India did not help much by its decision to talk only with one Group nearest to terrorism! It is tired of fighting unjustified War and Nagas are worried of Arms starved fighting. None of the Groups, from the Main Tree of the NNC to the smallest Coppiced or pollarded Branches, none of the NSCN’s difficult to distinguish Groups in the Naga political imbroglio, as Writer Charles Chasie calls, appear to have a clear Vision of how to clear the hopeless Naga Political Mess.
Nagas today feel like what King Hezekiah of Judah must have felt a millennium before the birth of Jesus Christ: Hezekiah was a good Judean King, so good was he as to be described as:
“Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel.
There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah,
either before him or after him”,
but helpless.
Hezekiah was so just, bold and confident in his early 24 years reign in belief at the rightness of his actions that he razed down all Idol worship places on the hilltops barring the temple of Jerusalem; he even boldly cut to pieces the highly revered Nehushtan (bronze, snake, unclean) –the famous bronze Staff of Moses the people in Hezekiah’s time erroneously began to worship in earnest like a god.
Unfortunately Hezekiah of Judah was only a petty Satrap, historically recent, among very ancient, very powerful and vast Kingdoms of Egypt, the Chaldeans and the Persians.
King Hezekiah paid 10,000 kilogram of Silver, 1000 kilogram of Gold to the Assyrian King Shalmaneser come to punish disobedient Hezekiah but the tributes did not satisfy the great King and Hezekiah had to strip all the Gold platting in the Jerusalem Temple to satisfy the Assyrian King.
Hezekiah was getting old, lying sick and helpless in his bed when Prophet Isaiah trotted up to him and told him he is going to die. As if this message is not sufficiently burdensome enough, the Prophet Isaiah conveyed an Oracle from God:
“Put your House in Order because you are going to die, you will not recover”
King Hezekiah in his sick bed turned towards the wall and cried in the presence of Isaiah the Prophet looking at him!
Who will set in Order the Political Mess in the House of Naga National Council? The Naga People are crying!
My view is:
The Parent political House of the Naga National Council, NNC should set the Political House of the NNC in Order:
The President of the Parent Naga National Council should say:
Unilaterally; Conciliatorily; Accommodatively, not petty Conditionalitily but Magnanimously:
“COME, LET US COME TOGETHER AND REASON TOGETHER”.
Then NNC can talk in one voice with the NSCN Groups, the Government of India and others.
Thepfulhouvi Solo. (Retd. IFS RR-68)
Retd. Principal Secretary, Nagaland
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