“In the process of modernization, we have already lost quite a bit of our tribal identity and with it our spirit of competition and survival,” former Nagaland Chief Secretary Alemtemshi Jamir stated in front of a gathering of college students on 2 April in Mokokchung.
He said this while reflecting on how globalization has impacted Naga culture in simple ways like clothing, food habits, lifestyle, media, and modes of contact, movement, and transportation.
“It has affected us all. Look at the way we dress and live. When we look at ourselves today, by fashion, we look like Koreans or Japanese. When we talk of economy and technology it is another matter,” he observed.
He went on to say that “we are literally swamped by multinational corporations that know no political or administrative boundaries” and that their products have infiltrated our homes.
“The communication systems such as the mobile phones, the broadband and the computers, the DTH has reached every nook and corner of our lives,” he said, adding that in the process of modernization, “we have already lost quite a bit of our tribal identity and with that our spirit of competition and survival.”
However, he observed that today, no matter where one is, with equal opportunities existing for all, one has to compete in a world governed by the law of ‘survival of the fittest’.
“But to be the fittest we need to have the best environment and the best of facilities,” he observed, enquiring whether the Naga society has them.
“To have the best facilities and environment, we need the best Government and we need to ask the question whether we have the best Government,” he added.
“Where has that Sobaliba disappeared?”
Later in his address, Jamir lamented the loss of a culture that valued truth and valor, and he exhorted the people to reclaim the essence of their culture and reform society.
He cited how there is a story of how Mr TN Kaul, “a famous Foreign Secretary of India in the fifties” who said that the Naga problem could be very easily solved – by money and alcohol.
“Our own leader Mr AZ Phizo is said to have observed that the Nagas would be defeated and enslaved only by money. All this is coming true today,” he remarked, noting that the Church’s and right-thinking people’s ardent plea for a ‘Clean Election’ did not work in the last election.
“Our people, in some cases, completely forgot the principles of Democracy,” he noted, “and followed the erstwhile path of ‘village candidates’.”
He also claimed that candidates switched parties overnight, from regional to national, right wing to left wing to centrist, “without any concern for ideology of visions for the people and the land” and that they have blatantly used money.
“Once they have been elected, they are unable to stay in the opposition even for one day and are inclined for an ‘Opposition-less Government’. One wonders what that means in a Democracy. What a mockery and caricature of democracy. Everything is reduced to money and power,” he lamented.
He voiced in disbelief that such things are happening to a people who at one time lived in an idyllic Village Republic that listened to the voice of the poor, cared for the needy but lived a valiant warrior’s life.
“Men were bound by rules and each had freedom to be heard and dissent was a right. Putu Menden existed to maintain order but at the same time stood for the rights of the individual. Truth was honored. Valor was respected,” he said, adding that life was precious and social coexistence was at the core of living.
“Forceful deprivation of property or rights was unknown. Where has that Sobaliba disappeared? We have to try and get back the essence of our culture and here we have the great need for reforms in our society,” he added.
‘Ponder upon India’s divide and rule policy’
Speaking on the imperatives of reforms, the former Chief Secretary also urged the students to ponder upon “India’s policy to keep the Naga issue under wraps and govern the Nagas.” He stated that the divide and rule policy appears to be “blatantly in play in the issue of Statehood (demand) of the ENPO.”