"Nagaland was born not naturally but by Cesarean ... and the Mother also was unconscious"
Extortion menace in Nagaland -- a reality !! As a nationalist and veteran Naga leader, Dr S C Jamir made a few candid and crucially important observations on Oct 29th at the Nagaland assembly function in Kohima.
In the 1990s, the then Chief Minister Jamir coined the slogan 'Peace Offensive'. It was misunderstood.
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| Blogger flanked by Jamirs - Senior and Junior |
The then Congress party dispensation in Kohima explained the real intent but it was never grasped in its entirety.
Jamir did not have good communicators in his team - N Theyo was pradesh Congress vice president and then president. Theyo was frank but not articulate. K G Kenye, as a spokesman for NPCC, was originally a regionalist.
Jamir's Babudom had one "additional CM" and a few others in Jamir cabinet -- they thought they would be in power permanently. The malady that they will be in power for years to come has stuck with the Team Chingwang as well.
In his address on the occasion of completion of 60 years of the history of Nagaland Assembly, S C Jamir called spade a spade in more ways than one.
"Which is the real God and which is the unreal God ... shall we continue to worship. In other words are you free to face reality ....?" Some remarks sound too religious and far from politics.
But those could also make one do soul searching. He also said - there are many who would like to 'poke nose' in Nagaland matters ("into our den").
"Don't allow their nose to come to your den. But there is an intention ... they will kick us out".
"Let us be faithful to the oath we have taken in the name of God... and that is to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India and to uphold the sovereignty and integrity of the country....".
He also clarified - "For me I am committed to that oath.... because I am committed to the Constitution in the name of God and I believe you (all) have also taken the oath in the name of God".
"If all of us are honest to that oath which we have taken ... things will be all right. Today, how many of us true to God".
"Don't quarrel with God, that will not bring prosperity to our people... that will not bring peace to our people. And therefore if elected members who have taken oath of allegiance -- let us be true .... and with that truth let us conquer ... which is all the time trying to threaten us".
Jamir pointed out that the Nagaland did not attain statehood following the oft-repeated formula that worked for other states.
"Remember", he said, adding, "There was a time when people were thoroughly confused....".
The veteran leader gave the analogy of the birth of a child and the pain of motherhood and said -- "As the years rolled by the mother became very sick. Because of various circumstances ... the natural delivery was not possible. So the baby had to be taken out through Cesarean".
Because the question arose whether the people should keep the 'mother' alive or let the 'baby and the mother' die. "That was the situation faced by Naga people".
The Mother - simile stood for the dream nurtured by the NNC that Nagaland should become a 'free homeland'.
Jamir told the Assembly members and other dignitaries - "The house surgeons (reference to peace negotiators and Naga People's Convention) said let us take out the child through Cesarean so that it can remain alive".
"Thus, Nagaland was born not naturally but by Cesarean ... and we saw that only the people would be alive but the Mother also... she was unconscious. When the cesarean was done the Mother did not know whether she has given birth to a baby or not," Jamir said.
"That is the reason why even today -- some people say they are thinking they have not given birth to the child..... whereas people have grown up in the last 60 years ... yet our people are still waiting ... waiting the birth of the child".
Jamir also said -- "... that is the difference we face till now".
The former Chief Minister said -- there came a situation people did not know "where to go, whether left or right, front or back". He also said : "At that point of time, the Naga political movement was on the verge of collapse".
On the back drop that Naga Hills was earlier only a district of Assam, the seasoned politician - "It was too humiliating" for Nagas to go back to Assam "as a defeated people" and be part of a district.
"And therefore I believe our God intervened.
"Big Naga minds appeared in the political scene".
And thus a series of meetings were held - first within respective tribe and then between different tribes. And finally it was decided that the efforts should be made "to salvage the hopes and aspirations of the Naga people".
And then obviously the question came -- What's the alternative !!
It was thought, "We have to find an alternative which will be honourable, which will be dignified for the Naga people for present and the future".
Jamir added -- "It was decided that we have to find a political alternative and therefore the Naga People's Convention - first convention, second convention and third convention -- and prepared a draft 16 Point Memorandum draft".
Nagaland - thus was purchased by the precious blood of Naga people -- he said.
During recent visit to the state, as I interacted with a few locals in Medziphema area; they also spoke about the Naga movement and the pending peace talks.
One social worker (identity kept withheld) retorted -- "The Army is trying to spread Prosperity. New Delhi is smart. This is a new
Nagaland; the Assam Rifles officials now know the Naga weakness. But prosperity is also part of a problem. We have so much extortion".
Within 48 hours, I had landed in Wokha town.
A few eminent Lotha leaders said -- Nagas may have a very big wish-list but it is time to be practical and hence the demands should be tailored to suit practical situations.
The Wokha region has been generally known for pragmatic people and the region also produced a few successful business captains in their own right.
Road contractor Daniel Lotha used to say, "I hate supply works. Give me business opportunities where we can keep something for the legacy ... like the roads".
Nagaland roads today would have made Daniel Lotha look for cover.
But that's besides the point. If roads are bad in the ENPO region and people want FNT -- ask Mr Supongmeren Jamir of Congress and he says Kohima (Northern Angami -2) deserves an airport.
"To start with, I think it would not be without good reasons if we say today that we must get an early Solution to the Naga issue," Mhondamo Lotha, president of Lotha Hoho, told this journalist at wokha.
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| Mhondamo with his 'Indian' friend |
He said - "Top in my wish list is peace and development. But we also need all factions of Naga underground to come together".
He volunteered to pause for a while and said: "You may call it my wishful thinking. But no big things can come without dreams".
During the interaction, Dr N M Kithan, a retired Health Dept. official said - "It is important to be practical in today's situation.
I am worried about BJP's Hindutva politics.... but locally as I come from Tyui constituency, I support our local MLA and BJP leader Y Patton".
He said episodes like Gau Suraksha Yatra should be avoided in the context of Nagaland and hastened to add that - "The credit goes to NDPP-BJP government and our Deputy CM Patton for handling the situation well".
It may be stated that the state of Nagaland was established in 1963 with a promise to safeguard the practices of the Naga people for whom food items like pork and beef are staple foods.
It may be stated that the state of Nagaland was established in 1963 with a promise to safeguard the practices of the Naga people for whom food items like pork and beef are staple foods.
In September this year, the Nagaland state government had denied entry to Hindu monk Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand Maharaj and his team wanting to conduct a march against the slaughter of cows,
considered a holy animal in Hinduism.
However, Lotha leaders said they were not aware if the particular Shankaracharya who had come to Dimapur in September had any political intention as in the national media he is often described as someone close to a key Congress leader from central India.
"Whether the BJP or the Congress or any other party... we do not want such episodes in Nagaland," said another Lotha leader during the interaction.
Ends
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