Connecting the Naga youth with Naga identity and Naga nationalism

• In the name of Naga nationalism, we have wrongly borrowed China’s socialism or communism – Prof. Mao
• Church should not shy away from any kind of involvement in transforming the society – Dr. Wati Aier
• It is the powerful happenings in Dimapur that give a sense that Nagas are on the move – Niketu Iralu 

Staff Reporter
Dimapur, Sep. 15 (EMN): The one-day symposium on “Nagas on the move” organised by Christian Higher Secondary School (CHSS) Dimapur, in commemoration of the school’s 50th anniversary, was an attempt at identifying Naga society and edifying Naga national movement to the young students.
‘Naga nation, Naga nationalism and Naga identity are a bit like catch-22 situation. Did Naga nationalism create our identity or our identity create Naga nationalism?’ was the uncertainty posed by Naga historian and author Dr. Visier Sanyü at the convention.
Naga nation is a creation of historical process, a historical necessity forced by colonisation, by changing world conversion and many other factors, underlined Sanyü.
Drawing attention to the creation of Naga identity, he accounted that the first educated Nagas created their identity through the use of their own tribe along with their name, and later on the second generation started using their clan as their surname.
In order to preserve Naga identity, the Naga national movement was formed and this in return gave identity to the Nagas wherein outside the country people identified Nagas through the national movement.
“Because of our national movement, we disliked anything that is Indian and anything that is India. But we still don’t know what exactly it is. But we are because of the historical move and factors,” said Sanyü.
Narrating the Naga people’s submission to the 1929 Simon Commission, he said that the British authorities’ ‘clear assurance’ that Nagas will be independent once the colonial rulers return to England had “changed the whole political scenario.”
Even in the midst of educating the student community on Naga national movement, he did not shy away from admitting that ‘Nagaland has the worst road and worst politician in the world’.
Prof. Xaxier Mao from NEHU addressed that the social and cultural perspective of ‘Nagas on the move” signifies a significant departure or a significant change because ‘change is the law of nature’.
“However in the name of Naga nationalism and Naga identity we have wrongly borrowed China’s socialism or communism that has greatly harmed the Naga society. We have not borrowed the good aspect – that is the work culture,” pointed out Mao.
Our society is plagued with negative things because various forces are at war and these forces have impacted the striking cultural element that we have into something totally different, he noted.
“In the actual functioning of the government as well as in the society, the Christian values of compassion, fellow feeling, and reconciliation are in a minimal supply because our society is ridden with corruption. It is so because it concentrates only on the ritual ceremony – the rights and beliefs minus the important spiritual values,” he pointed out.
The goal of human being, he said, should be to strive towards perfection and become more humane which is lost in Naga society.
The Reverend Dr. Wati Aier raised the issue of religion and religious perspective of Naga society, which he pointed out to be ‘subjective’ concentrating only on ‘I’ and ‘me’ in relation to one’s soul. The practise of Church in Naga society is subjective without concentration on the outside world, said the Reverend.
“There is a divide that the Christian church should concentrate on the holy aspect and the secular world should be left to the domain of the world and that doesn’t belong to the kingdom of God,” he observed and remarked this as the ‘polarisation’ between the scared and the profane. The Church therefore should not shy away from any kind of involvement in transforming the society, he said.
When Christianity co-opts a political ideology, thereby justifying that ideology, it becomes what is known as ‘civil religion’, Aier pointed out. “Naga on the move” is a revolutionary term which is laudable and relevant whereby the young people should initiate to govern the society and world, encouraged Aier.
Renowned Naga social worker Dr. Niketu Iralu in his opening remarks took a jibe at the condition of Nagaland where he stated “if we are to judge Nagas and Nagaland by the roads and pace of traffic, it is not possible to say ‘Nagas are on the move.’”
Addressing on the political perspective of Naga society, Iralu said ‘it is the powerful happenings in Dimapur that give a sense that Nagas are on the move.’
Dimapur is a process or a phenomenon of great power that we need to understand and make it our strength not our weakness, our hope not our despair and nightmare, he said. It is with this perception and imagination of Dimapur and Nagaland’s emerging future that Iralu shared his thoughts on Naga society.
“Dimapur will always show what Nagaland will be in the future and Kohima will always say ‘amen’ to what happens in Dimapur,” said Iralu while clarifying that this statement was not a negative line.
It is in the field of education that Nagas will make a remarkable shift though very lopsided because of the very poor performance of the school run by the state government, he remarked while conveying that it was important for the present generation to know the Naga political struggle.
“The present generation should know that it is not a struggle for cessation to break away from the India the British created. It is important to know that Nagas are not seditionist or anti-India. Even if we are, we are not going to harm India, but Nagas are India’s little neighbour,” he said.
Iralu said: “Our process of struggle has become damaged in terms of human relationship in the society right from the beginning when the state was about to be created. If we had sat down and worked on what is right for our people we could have come to a certain point of united conviction of our struggle.
“Nagas today, at this stage, have to say we have all contributed to the damaging of Naga process- the process of struggle. When the process is damaged the outcome cannot be right. Let us decide to heal the process otherwise we are going to find ourselves hating one another.”