How does an issue (ULB Imbroglio) that is pretty much a straight forward case (which is preservation of Article 371A), be misconstrued so wrongly by some feminist, women leaders, and intellectuals of our society; encouraged and sympathized by equally biased social justice warriors and the Left media from the mainland and other Northeastern states, who wants or can only see through the prism of misogyny and victimization of women and this of course makes a great story except for one thing, it’s just not true. Facts don’t matter to them apparently; what matters more is their Worldview being confirmed.
While it’s true that women movement have achieved many important milestones, it is also true that the rage and bitterness in women’s movement seems to be going too far, as evident from the incident where the innocuous comment of Hollywood actor Steve Martin on tweeter praising actress Carrie Fisher on her beauty and then on her wits and intelligence, created quite a stir that he was forced to take it down. The feminists and politically correct social justice warriors went berserk; it was just unacceptable to these raging minds that an actor of his stature wasn’t feminist or sensitive enough to notice her wits and intelligence first! The point being made is that such extreme far Left, deluded Western feminism does exist and is unfortunately being imported and these are the stuffs that are failing the progressives and liberals; and this new brand of Leftist politics is just as intolerant and irrational as the ones on the extreme Right.
The ULB issued aired on national news television/print media not only got the reason for the conflict wrong but also painted a false image, that of gender apartheid in Naga society. No doubt there’re aspects of gender inequality in the Naga customary tradition but the fact is that the vast majority of Naga Men by and large love and respect their women and children as in any other modern progressive societies; as is demonstrated by the majority of the women who are against reservation. Some of the women leaders may already be in the reckoning to win national awards for their ‘bravery’ in their fight for women rights in a ‘dangerous and hostile environment’ like Nagaland, and being patted by their whacky far Left counter parts in other states and even outside the country but the fact is does this really tell the story of our Naga society?
I suspect that the failure to address the issue of ULB controversy earlier was due to the sheer inability to have a dispassionate discourse on the issue. The pressure to be politically correct in this age of neo-feminism means that any disagreement to the ULB election, one stood a chance of being accused of chauvinism, primitive-minded, non-progressive and anti-women, and this perhaps is one of the reasons for the lack of enthusiasm to have a serious dialogue on the issue of ULB in the first place.
If one could draw an analogy of the new brand of Left politics and political correctness and its lack of capacity for intellectual honesty and its consequences, then it would be the recent American presidential election. Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party in their zest to be politically correct just couldn’t say what people by the millions in America felt, such as, their disgust with about Black/Brown identity politics vis-a-vis White identity politics peddled by the Left and Democrats, and the clear and present danger with Islamic terrorism and the Left inability to name it. Clinton, right after the aftermath of the Orlando massacre talked only about gun control and warned about rise of Islamophobia when America had just suffered atrocities at the hands of Islamic terrorism. Added to these, her intention to increase Syrian refugees in the country by 550% led to her downfall. The new brand of Left politics and political correctness only exasperated the vast majority of the Americans who finally voted for Donald Trump. The vast majority of these people were not motivated by racism. There were people who voted for Obama twice (2008 & 2012 elections) who voted for Trump and therefore racism cannot be the best explanation for why Trump won the elections. A vast majority of people who saw Trump’s flaws just didn’t care; all they were concerned was about national security, economy, and terrorism, so these people along with the racists all voted for Trump.
The new brand of Left politics and political correctness has led to the emergence of “Safe Spaces” (initially started at university campuses to protect people from being exposed to ideas that do not conform to their Worldview). These Safe Spaces are now growing in many places in America, making it virtually impossible to have serious discourses on contentious issues like immigration, terrorism, security of the society, and concerns for women rights in the Muslim community without being branded as one thing or the other.
Similarly here in Nagaland, the ever progressive feminist and social justice warriors were quick to jump to the conclusion that the Naga men-folk opposition to the ULB election had nothing to do with the concerns for the preservation of Article 371(A), but only saw it as an opposition to empowerment of women, and then goes on the offensive mode against the men-folk with charges of sexism, bigotry, toxic masculinity, chauvinism and patriarchy. And it is here that the feminist and the social justice warriors in their hysterical rage have failed to address the issue of 33% with intellectual honesty and actively discouraged the voicing of concerns for the integrity of Article 371(A) with accusations. One can be sure that the thousands of decent Nagas who just didn’t give a damn about what the feminist and far Leftist elements had to say, along with bigoted and chauvinistic Nagas rose up to fight for the sanctity of Article 371(A).
Mar Longkumer
Purana Bazar
