Kuileng, Ukhrul District
Walking down thousand years of Naga memory lane through the disbursal point of the Eastern Corridor and also thereof the Makhel village and the history of Naga subjugation by the British Colonial empire and thence the inception period of a Naga Nationhood; which period witnessed thousands and thousands of human atrocities perpetrated upon the Nagas by the aggressive Indian forces in the guise of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 etc. None was spared, the people of Tuensang, Mokokchung, Kohima, Zunheboto and the outlying villages, in fact the whole Naga ancestral land was up in flames and all experienced the brute force of the Indian Forces. Repressive laws introduced by the aggressors brought the Nagas more cohesiveness; one spark ignited here triggered another there, all converging in cohesion to give one’s all; all for the love of a Naga Nationhood. It was the Naga villages that provided the logistics to the Naga Resistance Movement.
In the course of Naga history thousands of Sumis, the Chakhesangs, the Aos, the Lothas, the Angamis, the Pangmis, the Konyaks, the Khiamniungans, etc and of course the rest of the Naga brothers laid down their lives; some out of meekness whereas others in the defence of the Nationhood; “The Naga Motherland”. Can we, the contemporary Nagas, put aside all these into oblivion and CREATE/CONCOCT a new history without the root of the yesteryears?
I am a Tangkhul Naga from Ukhrul/Hunphun village, the district HQ of the Tangkhuls. I am identifying myself so as to freely and frankly share my anguish over RIIN, to which I believe my brethren from the Indian state of Nagaland are in an exuberance state. It indeed is a cause of relief from the point of the influx of immigrants or even upholding the residency of the Dimasa, Kachari, etc.
But in it I also sense a feeling of a concept in alienating ourselves, the Naga brotherhood buried in it. Forgive me if my understanding is devoid of such principles in the so called RIIN. But judging by the lines, there is a cause of deep concern from a perspective of a common larger Naga family. The big question is, will our brethren from the Indian state of Nagaland embrace RIIN or outrightly reject it as divisive/slandering?
Can RIIN be exchanged for the many thousands of lives sacrificed on the altar of a Naga Nationhood that began even way before the creation of the so-called Nagaland state within the Union of India? What of those villages razed to the ground, those maimed or the chastity of our sisters robbed? Those many hours of sufferings at the hands of the brute aggressor’s hand? The granaries burnt? Those still living with the brunt mark of that aggression? the psychological and emotional strains experienced out of the inhuman inflictions by the foreign Indian forces?
It will be prudent to look back beyond just the 1st of December 1963? Further down the lane, yes though Nagas was not a united front, kingdom, Nation prior to the advent of the British Colonialist, there existed no boundaries of White Naga/Black Naga/Small Naga/Big Naga except our own village boundaries. Beyond that we were all just Nagas in our ancestral land. Then can such a recent development of RIIN segregate us as you, me, they, them? Will it not be an absurdity to willfully accept such a law which had been culturally or socially alien in nature to our forefather’s principle of the NAGAS? Will the bones of our great great grandfathers not turn in anguish that their offsprings have come/reached to such a melting point?
Which GB, Chairman of VC will seal the stamp of legitimizing that a Tangkhul, Wancho, Nocte, Rongmei, Anal, Ollo, Kaisan, etc etc is not an indigenous citizen of the Naga ancestral land? Which means to describe whether we like it or not that the Indian state of Nagaland is still a part of the larger Naga ancestral land.
Well and for the sake of argument if the dateline of 1st December 1963 is the benchmark of alienating Naga brethren, have the Nagas given up on its spirit of a unified integrated Naga Nationhood?
Even the adversaries, in consideration of the fact of Naga brotherhood across the arbitrary international boundary acknowledges and thereof grant/permit the Free Movement Regime (FMR), though presently it is in a different context, but the context is the humanely exercise of administrative arrangement even by an adversary. And when GOI is scrapping the FMR by fencing, our western Nagas are not doing much either this moment which is a matter of great concern, too focused or rather contented on segregation law.
Has such an inconsiderate law like RIIN ever applied or practiced elsewhere/anywhere? What’s so prophetic about RIIN. Ok! for the sake of argument, lets agree, it is done/applied here or there, but as a Naga, can one achieve satisfaction by denying a brother such a right of deprivation? Do our Naga brothers from the state of Nagaland staying/living elsewhere not owning properties, say, Guwahati, Delhi? Is or has such as RIIN ever applied or carried out elsewhere? That if you are not from this colony or state, you cannot own or buy properties? That you don’t belong here? Does it not infringe the Universal rights to freedom of so many things? Yes, for a prospective purpose, there’s a Nagas diaspora in the world. What if, this RIIN like law is applied and Nagas are not permitted to participate in developing themselves, because they belong to a certain stock of race called the Nagas? What a pity it shall be, the day it happens and we see thousands of Nagas returning home deprived of their rights to profess the right to universal freedom of so and so?I take pride in identifying myself as an indigenous Nagas, not of any arbitrary boundary.
Indigenous is defined in Merriam Webster as, “of or relating to the earliest known inhabitants of a place and especially of a place that was colonized by a now dominant group.”
I want to be remembered into posterity for works achieved by the likes of AZ Phizo, Imkongmeren, Khodao Yanthan, Isak Chishi Swu, Gen. Kholi, who gave all theirs, is to give towards a unified Naga Nation; I do not wish to be remembered as the first GB, Chairman/Secretary of a Village Council who seal the stamp in carrying out the wishes of the adversaries to emotionally, culturally and physically segregate the Nagas as white, black, small or great. There’s only one indigenous Naga bestowed upon our forefathers by the Almighty God, which should be the rallying point of every Naga from every nook and corner of the ancestral land begotten from our great great grandfathers.
Lastly, the speech of Dr. Kethoser Kevichusa’ son Naga Day, “Nagas without Borders” on a tribalistic mentality and a citizen @ the three kinds of people really strikes me and has always inspired me. It was said, in a Greek society or any given society there are the kinds of people; the idiot, not necessarily a mentally deficient people but rather defined as, a totally private person, a totally self-centered person and a totally selfish person. It was said an idiot was always out for his personal gain and his personal interest and does not have a public philosophy; no knowledge, no skill, no character, no virtue to be able to live and to be able to contribute in a flourishing society and community. An idiot was all out for his own personal pleasure and his personal treasures and was said by the Greeks as just an upgraded barbarian.
Dr. Kethoser Kevichusa went on to describe the second kind of people in the Greek context in any given society as the tribes people, not the fact of belonging to a certain tribe which was a good thing but the tribes people were described as a tribal and a tribalistic mentality; tribes people were those people who are not able to think beyond their small group or their small tribe. For a tribes people their primary allegiance; their only allegiance and their ultimate allegiance was to their tribe; their tribe was their god and tribalism their religion. Tribes people was said to be always afraid of things that are different and that are a little alien to them; they are always suspicious and fearful; they always dealt with different people and difficult situation with intimidation, with force and violence; tribes people’s ideal people were the warriors; their ideal, the warriors.
Dr. Kethoser Kevichusa also went on to describe another kind of a people, the third kind of people in the Greek context as the ideal person, “The Citizen”, not in a legal or political terms (status) but the idea and ideal of a citizen. So, who were the citizens? He quoted citizen as someone who has the skills and knowledge to live a public live; who is able to live a life of civility. The citizen recognizes that he is a member of a commonwealth and thus strives for the common good; a citizen knows his rights in a society but he also knows his responsibility towards the society. The citizen can fight for his rights but always with an awareness of and with the respect for the rights and interest of others; of their neighbors, of the smallest of the minorities and of the worst of their enemies and it is “CITIZENS” that makes and that make up a civilized society. And because citizens settle their differences with civility, so they produce a civilized society; a society that truly live up to the meaning of a society. Society literally means friendship and friendliness.
Dr. Kethoser Kevichusa went on to state, that was the choice each and every individual wherever he may be has to make in a society; that is the choice that starkly faces us Naga people today. Will we the Nagas be an idiot; living only for ourselves? Or will we be tribal, tribalistic, tribes people unable to think beyond our tribe and small group? Or will we be citizens, citizens in the best sense of the word. Dr. Kethoser Kevichusa addressed the Nagas gathered on that very auspicious Naga Day, “Nagas withoutBorders” and challenged the audience to make the right choice. So also today, what choice do I make, you and I?
As for me, I believe in the concept of; “family above self, village above family, tribal sentiment above village, and the Naga Nation above tribal politics”.
Thank you.