We need conscience keepers

[dropcap]A[/dropcap] culture of retrospection, investigation and debate must be encouraged in the Naga society. This is to create an ambience for the nurturing of our own conscience keepers. Today, we see what could be called intellectual activities or events including lectures during anniversaries, either in Dimapur or in the state capital Kohima but there is a dearth of conscience keepers in our amidst. We do have intellectuals but they chose to hibernate for reasons best known to them. They ignore the fact that true intellectuals are vocal advocates and confrontationists against factors detrimental to the society.The Naga society is desperately in want of strong conscience keepers to whom the people can bank on. Resolving issues within the Naga society would have been smoother but for the want of accepted civil leaders the situation tends to get complicated every time efforts are put to address the issues. Nagas have influenced neighbouring communities of the North East region to a great extent. For instance, the Naga revolutionary movement has inspired and influenced the Meiteis, the Assamese, the Kukis, the Khasis, the Garos, the Dimasas, the Bodos and the names go on. Our creativity in various fields has also given inspiration to the neighbouring non Naga communities. However, sadly, we don’t have civil leaders who can influence the Naga society itself or from whom the Naga society can get inspiration. A society sans conscience keepers is more vulnerable to the influence of the vested interest elements. Such society is also more prone to fragmentation/disintegration. There are numerous reasons why we don’t have our own conscience keepers. One factor is that ours is not a thinking society. This is because we are yet to inculcate the habit of reading. In short, Nagas in general are not reading people. Intellectuals speak through their writings. So we failed to hear what is being spoken by these intellectuals. Hence, we failed to appreciate and promote these intellectuals.