Reconciling the Naga youth with ‘Naga Reconciliation’

Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, April 30 (EMN): For quite some time now there has been a visible surge of energy in the workings of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) – with the two public interactions it has had so far in Dimapur and Kohima coming as the latest indication of this surge of life in the FNR.

In the process of engaging this renewed vigour, the FNR has also managed to strengthen hope among the Naga people – especially the youth, with whom it appears to have struck chord. The FNR has made no secret of its intention to involve the Naga youth in its journey.

In the Dimapur interaction, the convenor of the FNR, Rev. Dr. Wati Aier was blunt when addressing the youth. “Young people, you have the right to be frustrated. We don’t blame you. I think your frustration is a reflection of who we are in some ways. We have produced generation of men and women who are not confident, not competent and they don’t have a sense of belonging, a community. This is why we are saying let us build together. Let us work together.”

The confidence of Nagas as a special people will come only when there is a sense of belonging, he shared. However this ‘confidence’ must be in perspective, Aier said while pointing out that the ‘Meities, Assamese, Bengalis’ or other people are also ‘special’.

“Let us keep that in perspective and if there are some reporters here for (the Indian) intelligence department, please report it correctly. Yes reported it correctly as…verbatim. We are not trying to gather people here to say: ‘let us go and fight government of India and take up AK-47’. That’s not what we are saying this afternoon.

“We are saying: ‘how can we coexist as people of common humanity. Indians are human beings, within India you have got Biharis, Gujaratis, Kannadas, Tamilians…Nagas are one of them. How can we coexist together?’” Aier said in Dimapur.

And as ever, he called for imagination. “The FNR has come up with a theme ‘Naga Day-Nagas without borders’. What do we mean by that? We are trying to say: ‘well look, you guys gave us borders, fine; you guys gave us arbitrary borders which we did not want, you gave us right, fine’; but still we need to be creative, we need to have imagination. We don’t become a victim of other’s intention.

“In other words, others have tried to force us and they are saying that we will become victims; we are saying: ‘no, we cannot become victims, we can transcend borders.’ That is to say Nagas without border means we have Nagas in Myanmar, Cachar Hills, two-three districts in Arunachal, Manipur…our identity cannot be created only by the borders. If our identity is an outcome of boundaries then we will have several identities.  We have only one identity and that is called Naga identity. Naga identity is a politically is a constructionist model. I think we have to give credit to AZ Phizo.”

According to him, Naga people need not be ashamed of constructionism. “There is no country that is not a construction. So it is a construction. Just recently, Aimol is now a Naga tribe. Who are we to say that they are not? It is a constructionist view. So from an academic perspective, Nagas we go on in a construct.

“This is why we prefer that we use the word not Ao tribe…tribe is the word of the colonial tool. The colonial tool used to sort of undermine us. So the tribe came from the colonial powers and later on, it came about in the political language. Nagas are nations: Ao nation, Angami nation, Sumi nation, Lotha nation. Nations, we are not tribes. So we are collection of people of nations and this gives its rise to a common identity called the Nagas,” he explained.

This way ‘Nagas can be Nagas’, Aier reasoned, and be sensitive to politics – written national policies – at the same time. “We are without borders but there is a greater political policy which we cannot simply just dismiss with a flick of the finger. It is a technical issue. Let us be sensitive of that as well. But Nagas will remain Nagas.”

Another member ofs the FNR, Niketu Iralu echoed the sentiment in the Kohima interaction. “When we say that we are trying to become a people and a nation, our history will show that we are not against India or anti-India in saying that we are who we are. We are a people, no longer just several tribes. By fighting and sacrificing for that and making our position clear, we became a nation, although very young when compared to others.”

Iralu also underlined the FNR’s purpose. “The struggle of a people must be examined honestly, correctly, and at regular times so that we are up to date in our response to a changing world. That is what FNR is doing.

“If we examine ourselves at a human level, our human prejudices will come in, our incompleteness of understanding will come in and we will start blaming others – the easiest thing. And that destroys more than creates…When we reach out to different tribes, hopefully we will have individuals responding where they start to change where they need to change, otherwise we will go the same course where the Naga ship has come to a stop and in danger of sinking.”

‘Terrorist’ tag: Politics of language

Responding to a question about the ‘terminology of armed groups and also naming of Naga national workers as ‘terrorists’, another FNR member, Dr. Rosemary Dzuvichu said that for the Nagas, any Naga political group is definitely a group fighting for the Naga cause even though there are different definitions ‘from the other side’ for these groups.

“Terminologies which the government of India uses on the Naga national workers (armed groups) such as ‘terrorists’ are not found in even more violent areas of India, therefore in the politics of language, it was something that the Nagas need to be concerned about, particularly when talking about Naga reconciliation and forgiveness,” she said.