The Speaking Mirror: That “something is very wrong” feeling in Nagaland today

Kaka D. Iralu
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hat Nagaland was a free and independent country in human history is a fact confirmed by historical records. Lost as it was in mountainous terrains, far away from any ancient trade routes and inhabited by fierce headhunters, history marched by without affecting Nagaland with any of its many upheavals. Unaffected by any foreign religion or culture, our Naga forefathers evolved a purest form of democracy that breathed freedom into the very soul and being of the nation. I for one can still feel the tremors and vibrations of that spirit of freedom in my very bones and marrows because I was brought up in that culture.
But something very wrong happened to our history in the 1950’s as we marched into the 20th century. That “something very wrong” feeling has ever since, foreshadowed all our subsequent history for the past over half a century. For all these years, we havefelt both its visible as well as invisible grip on our lives as we march on into the 21st century.To begin with, something political is very wrong today, because for the past 56 years I (and all Nagas) have been made to breathe and live under the shadow of an Armed Forces Special Power Act that has taken away all the former freedom to life from me.
Something religious is also very wrong today, when our land is now dotted with huge Church buildings atop every village hillock but there is no sermon ever preached to condemn this most heinous act that seeks to deface God’s image in us. Something is indeed very wrong, when Nagaland is supposed to be a Christian land but the land is filled with fratricidal killings and extortions.
Something is also very wrong with our Nagaland Indian State today, when our Ministers, bureaucrats and their associates are ziping around town in the most costly foreign cars, while the overwhelming majority of Nagas cannot afford even a taxi fare. Yes indeed, something is very wrong with this foreign installed state when even after half a century of statehood, electricity all over the land keeps shutting down and the roads leading into its capital are all full of potholes.
Yes, Nagaland is a land of festivals, folk songs and folk dances too. It is a land where life is supposed to be good-“Kelhoukevira” (Land where life is good)-so her poets had fondly coined her! But something is very wrong when her poets have fled Nagaland only to write nostalgic tales about her from faraway foreign lands. Something is very wrong when Nagaland’s history Professors, English Professors and Sociology professors have fled the country only to Professor from abroad.
Something is also very wrong with our national politics when our own soldiers are at fratricidal war with one another and the public are driving them out from their designated camps. Something also must be very wrong with their peace talks because no peace talks have ever dragged on for seventeen years without yielding even one sentence of solution. This kind of peace talks stretching to seventeen years without any solution in sight is unpreceded in human history.
Yes, the FNR had been running from every pillar to post to bring reconciliation and unity among the various political factions. But is something wrong with the FNR efforts too because the factions are still at war and killing one another?
The ACAUT too has been shouting hoarse over illegal multiple taxation. But is something wrong with their shouting too because the price of some vegetables have shot up to even 100 Rupees per Kg and meat Rupees 160 to 300? Are their cries for removal of illegal taxes unconnected with the exorbitant taxes the business community in Nagaland is forcing on the Naga public. And is there no government in the land to check these multiple price rises?
What of our own Naga settlers being butchered by the Assam police from clearly within their ancestral lands on the borders of Assam? What of compansations for their torched dwellings and destroyed crops? Is there no Minister or Bureaucrat in the present state of Nagaland who knows these boundary lines with Assam, Manipur and Arunachal states? If they don’t know, shouldn’t they send the Governor of Nagaland to settle these conflicts because under Article 371 (A) the Governor is supposed to be in charge of law and order?
What then is wrong with Nagaland today? Why is “something is very wrong”feeling still there inspite of all the outward façade of “land of festivals” and grand road shows? Beneath all those fantacies, anarchy seems to be the order of the day.
I tell you, you will find the reasons for all this anarchy if you peel through fifty seven years of political lies that have plagued Naga politics since the inception of the Naga Peoples Convention in 1957. Beginning from 1957, layers upon layers of lies have covered Naga history through the establishment of a foreign Indian Government in Nagaland in 1963. This was followed by the formation of the Revolutionary Government of 1968, the formation of the NSCN in 1980, its split in 1988 and further split into four factions today. Then there was the parallel formation of another NNC in 1990 and its further multiplication into three factions today.
As one flips through this half a century accumulation of lies, one will find deliberate betrayals covered up under the guise of noble intentions of saving the nation from doom. Lies and lies so well camouflaged in religious language and slogans all so profusely propagated through writings and endless speeches. The writings and speeches have gone on for five seven years so much so that, the Naga public has been fooled into believing them as facts.
Today this accumulated new culture of lies have started affecting our real Naga culture, our Christian values, our politics and even our economy. Only when we uncover all these lies and collectively choose to stand for the truth, we will rediscover our true national soul and its democratic freedom.