By Monalisa Changkija | EMN
Nagaland is the only Indian State that celebrates two Independence Days ~ Naga Independence Day on August 14 and Indian Independence Day on August 15. You may ask: how does this work out? Well, I cannot say how it works out but it does. Till about twenty years ago, Naga nationalists would “tell” our people not to celebrate the Indian I-Day so fear prevented people from attending the I-Day programmes on August 15. From August 13, the Nagaland Police would be detailed to prevent preparations for Naga Independence Day on August 14 ~ on the eve of which posters to celebrate Naga Independence would be pasted in our towns, which would be immediately removed by our Cops. Till about twenty years ago, clearly it was our Cops, who carried the burden of the celebrations of two Independence Days ~ removing posters pasted by Naga nationalists and overseeing and ensuring security right from early August to the 15th. Perhaps, other than our Cops, no one really suffers from an overdose of the two I-Days celebrated in Nagaland.
In the past two decades, things have changed and the situation is somewhat different ~ perhaps except for the Cops. I-Day celebrations on August 15 go on as in any State in India although much muted and with greatly decreased fanfare as compared to the 1960s and 1970s. This I believe has much to do with the changes that have occurred across the country politically and economically since the 1980s, more so since liberalization was ushered in since the early 1990s. Also, since the 1980s, although there was a free flow of cash from the Centre, our people became very intimate with money and corruption in high and low places began in right earnest so there wasn’t much to spare for national days. Heck there wasn’t much spared for repairs and maintenance of roads, electrical equipments, education, health and all other infrastructures as well. The more money the Centre pumped in, the more the state of the State of Nagaland deteriorated. Because of this deterioration, a very debilitating anomie enveloped our people, which encouraged those in high places to ignore the existence of the people, who they had sworn on the Constitution to serve. Since then, things have come to such a pass that today Nagaland is a perfect depiction of a failed State ~ when for over three years, schisms within the ruling party is the only “activity” happening here, which has consigned human and infrastructure development to an aspiration, a hope and a prayer of the people, celebration of national days become meaningless.
Then since 2014, with a new political dispensation at the Centre, the purse strings aren’t as loose as they used to be ~ the reason is not only the much decried “change in funding pattern”, inflation, demonetization, etc., but the Nagaland Assembly elections slated for early 2018. Any political party that hopes to form the next Government here knows only too well that it is finally money that will speak and make the seat of power accessible. Such thinking works mainly in two ways ~ sever the cash flow to and of the current ruling party/parties; and, divest voters of money to the point that s/he will gratefully accept any amount of cash in exchange for votes. This has always worked in Nagaland. So, it doesn’t take rocket science to work out the whys and wherefores of Nagaland’s financial situation since the last couple of years, as also the possible outcome of the 2018 Nagaland Assembly elections. And don’t forget, we don’t have any revenue avenues worth the name. As all eyes are now fixed on these elections, I-Day celebrations here are basically Government and political parties’ road-shows.
Since the late 1990s, the Centre has also become quite tolerant, lenient and indulgent about Naga I-Day celebrations ~ as long as they are held in designated camps. So come August 14, huge celebrations are held in these camps with much fanfare and speeches of presidents of our numerous factions are mailed to our local newspapers, which are diligently published in toto the next day. So far, the Central and/or State Government haven’t prohibited local papers from publishing them or sued us for being anti-national. In fact, August 14 sees Reporters from all local and a few national newspapers and TV channels heading towards these camps to cover the Naga Independence day celebrations. Such was not the case around twenty years ago. At that time, I-Day celebrations on August 14 wasn’t the best of times for the local media. Now, it is hard to stop anyone from attending these celebrations in the designated camps and equally hard to force people to attend the I-Day celebrations on August 15. But all these must not be mistaken for our people’s overwhelming support for or opposition to the significance of either of the I-Days. The issue of a sovereign, independent and free Nagaland is a totally different issue, especially now as the winds of change across the globe, the country and the region have changed the lives of our people. A delve into these changes by themselves demand another column.
You might now want to ask: where do Naga nationalists get the money for grand August 14 I-Day celebrations? That is the million dollar question nobody dares to answer although everybody knows from where the money comes ~ definitely from more than one source, as the recent NIA investigations into some Government Departments’ financial hisab-kitaab points to. But this has always been an open-secret, which the Central Government unfortunately turned a blind eye to for decades ~ hence the state of non-and-under-development in Nagaland; hence our people’s anomie. When we live at the crossfire of guns, corruption, political volatility and economic impecuniousness ~ as if we are undeserving of the pledges enshrined in the Indian Constitution ~ the Centre doesn’t dig too deep. So, you get a little idea about why and how Nagaland is the only State in India that celebrates two Independence Days, don’t you? Now you see that these celebrations just work out here, don’t you?
(The Columnist, a journalist and poet, is Editor, Nagaland Page)
(Courtesy: Assam Tribune)
