Who is a Naga? Or for that matter who is an Englishman or a Tanzanian? Are national identities the product of an evolutionary process where, during the ice age, everyone was white, but as temperatures increased globally, some in the temperate zones became brown while others turned black in extremely hot climates? Or are national identities creations of the human imagination caused by social and political factors like imperialism or colonialism etc? As far as I am concerned, none of these factors have created the reality of nations and different nationalities. Also the fact of nationality is not a matter of the individual’s choice. After all when I, or for that matter the Englishman or the Tanzanian were in our respective mother’s wombs, none of us were ever asked as to whether we wish to be born a Naga, an Englishman or a Tanzanian. The fact of the matter was rather one- where the Naga was born a Naga simply because he or she was born from a Naga mother’s womb. The same biological fact was true for the Englishman and the Tanzanian too. As for our mothers and fathers and ancestors, all of them were also born in the same manner. Therefore, what I am saying here is that- as far as our nationalities are concerned, we are born into different nations as predestined by God. It is definitely not by our own choices.
In this context, God the creator of nations and nationalities had this to say in his word: “And he made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth…” (Acts 17:26). As to how that story of the creation of nations began, Genesis 10: 32 says: “And these are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent within their nations. From these the nation spread out over the earth after the flood.” As for the time taken for families to develop into clans, villages and on to tribes and nations, God in Isaiah 66:8 declares: “Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Then as if to challenge the notions of man about the creation of nations, God asks in Jeremiah 13: 23 “Can the Ethiopian change the colour of his skin? The declarations of God about nations can go on but the point to be noted is this- That Nations are not the creation of man but a creation of God in his own sovereign will.
Lastly, unlike everything else on earth that will eventually end, nations will not change but continue even into eternity. This fact is found in the book of Revelations, where- after God had created a new heaven and a new earth- and the New Jerusalem descends from heaven (Rev. 21: 1), God declares: “The glory and the honour of the nations will be brought into it”( Rev.21:26).
In conclusion, the Naga nation like many other nations in the world can never be destroyed or absorbed into another nation. After all, throughout all of human history, never ever has there been a single case where an Englishman was able to beat a Tanzanian (or an Ethiopian) into a Whiteman! In the same manner, neither India nor Burma can ever beat Nagas or negotiate us into themselves. As for the very recent and primarily, 19th and 20th century phenomena of so called modern nation states- they are but conglomerations of various nations. They too, like the chimeras of Imperialism and Colonialism will pass away into the shifting sands of time and will eventually be consigned to the dust of history.
Kaka D. Iralu
