To Tuluni or not to Tuluni
EM Bureau
Dimapur, July 8 (EMN): Poor scheduling of an annual event of the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) – and, by all indications, even poorer reading of the situation by the leadership – threatens to snowball into a major controversy.
Since 2000, the NSF has been felicitating Naga students who top the annual High School Leaving Certificate exams under the Nagaland Board of School Education. This year, the programme was held on Saturday at Kohima.
The glitch in this year’s schedule was that on Saturday, the Sumi community also celebrated their premier festival Tuluni. This, in turn, has been alleged as a violation of the NSF constitution and “preamble” – leading to calls for mass resignation of the current NSF leadership, and apology to the Sumi community.
The All Sumi Students’ Union (SKK) issued an ultimatum to the NSF on Saturday in which it has asked the latter to apologize to the Sumi community through all the local dallies. It reminded that on July 7 last, the SKK had written to the NSF protesting the schedule of the programme since it ‘deeply hurt the sentiment of the whole Sumi tribe’.
According to the SKK, the NSF had responded by saying that it could not reschedule the programme slated for July 8. This, the SKK stated, was an “absolute violation of the constitution of NSF which provides to ‘preserve our cultures, customs and traditional heritages’”.
“That the aforesaid action of the NSF amounts to wilful and deliberate disregard and humiliation not only of the Sumi student bodies in particular but whole Sumi tribe in general and by now has become a tribal issue and of which the SKK is compelled to give the ultimatum”, it read.
The SKK will discuss the “response” of the NSF to the ultimatum on July 12 next during its emergency assembly session, it informed. Three other Sumi student bodies also issued statements declaring their protest against the NSF.
The Western Sumi Students' Union (WSSU) demanded mass resignation of the NSF leadership “on moral ground basing on the violation of NSF constitution”. It declared that WSSU and its members would not cooperate with the NSF should the leadership fail to accede to the demand.
The Dimapur Sumi Students Union (DSSU) also declared non-cooperation to the NSF unless the latter tender an apology to the Sumi community. The NSF, it stated, was not expected to be ignorant “of the day which even the state government has earmarked in its yearly calendar in respect for the celebrations of the premier festival of Sumi community”.
The Emlo-To students' Union, under Atoizu range in Zunheboto, informed that ‘until further notice or directive from the SKK, the ETKK will never accept or consider NSF as an apex student body and relieve ourselves from NSF duties in any form’.
The Satoi Range Students Union also stated that ‘until further notice from the office of SKK’ it would not cooperate with the NSF. Late Saturday night, the Eastern Sumi Students' union ( ESSU) also issued a statement demanding a public apology from the NSF.
During the felicitation programme at Kohima on Saturday, the NSF president, Kesosul Christopher Ltu was reported as saying that the coincidence was “unintentional”.
When contacted, he told that the NSF regrets the turn of event. he also said that the NSF received the letter from the SKK only on July 7 last, and could not postpone the event at the “last minute” since 29 toppers from different parts of the state were already there to attend the function.
