Ladies and gentlemen,
I sent warm regards and Republic Day greetings to all our countrymen and women spread across the lands of our forefathers, illegally occupied by Myanmar and India, in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
As we celebrate our 62nd Republic Day, I would like to reminisce a little about the Nagas in the past.
Since time immemorial we Nagas have been living as a free people, with an established village Republics. Misfortune befell our Independent Republics when the imperial Britishers set foot into our soil accidentally. To safeguard their colonial and business interest, the British subjugated some parts of Naga homeland and established administrative headquarters—history bears witness that the British Imperial designs faced stiff resistance from our forefathers in spite of inferior weaponry against the British— by and large, most of our homeland remained independent. The two World Wars in the first half of the 20th century altered the dynamics of international politics heralding an era of political consciousness in the erstwhile colonies of Africa and Asia. With the impending withdrawal of the Britishers from our territory and the Indian sub-continent, the Naga Club submitted a memorandum in 1929, to the Indian Statutory Commission also famously called the Simon Commission, wherein, our demand to be left independent was made explicit. The Britishers, however, betrayed the wishes of the Naga aspirations by dividing our lands arbitrarily-- half in erstwhile Burma (now Myanmar) and half in the Indian dominion.
With the exit of the British, the political power now changed hands into the government of India; whose leaders, most prominently Mahatma Gandhi, understood our desire for a separate nation. The political leadership of India, however, sent its occupational army into our territory to annex our land, suppress our movement and to subdue our voice. Nagas, being a peace loving people resisted the Indian incursion through democratic means—declaration of Naga Independence Day of 14th August 1947 and Naga Plebiscite of May 16, 1951— our God given freedom nevertheless, having been hijacked by our mighty neighbour India with her military might remains to be unshackled.
Even though we live under the shadow of occupational forces, this day the 22nd March, is observed as our Republic Day, to reiterate and to make known to the world that the spirit of Naga nationalism and the struggle for our freedom continues till date. In the quest for our nationhood many a patriot—women and men— leaders and workers have shed precious blood and laid down their lives to keep the torch burning. Our parents and elders were hustled to concentration camps, villages and granaries burned, crops destroyed, women raped, innocent civilians killed. Many a story of atrocity suffered at the hands of the occupational forces remains untold. We remember them today with prayers in the hope that their suffering does not go in vain.
The struggle of our people to regain the freedom that we lost has undergone a sea change according to the dictates of time and circumstances. The first phase started by means of petitioning, followed by democratic process in the form of declaration of independence and plebiscite; active armed resistance and finally negotiations. Yet, the dream of our people to live as one nation, free from within and without has so far eluded us.
When the Nagas first started the journey of freedom struggle, it was with one voice and under one umbrella. Today, we are a divided house, a fragmented society and a nation of contradictions: underground and overground. National workers and all Naga citizens, civil societies and the church, let us take a break to ponder at the way why things are going the way they are? We cannot afford to remain complacent and let further fragmentation of Naga nation take place and remain a mute witness. We may have difference of opinions and principles of approach, yet, we could learn to improve our arguments and agree to disagree, be conservative but not dogmatic, be liberal but with rationalism and not misguided by self-indulgence. What started as a common journey and destination turned into a maze and a Babel of voices.
There have been times when Naga National Groups remained self-assured, aloof and deaf to the appeals of our people for a unified effort. The coming together of six Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) and the subsequent formation of the Working Group on 14th December 2016, is a step in the right direction towards achieving our common goal and aspirations. It is my optimism that other Naga Political groups outside our fold would join us in the coming days. I appeal to all the Nagas for your goodwill and prayers towards the betterment of the Working Group. Posterity and history will perhaps be kinder to us where others have failed for the leap of faith we have taken.
In the quest for political freedom, every Naga may not become a national worker or be expected to render a national service; nevertheless, irrespective of one’s station and calling in life, every Naga is equally responsible in the building of our nationhood— economically, spiritually and aesthetically. We may not have achieved our aspiration to live as a free nation; however, building of a strong and sound nation must not await for the ultimate victory of our struggle, as nation-building is a never ending process. We live in an age of enlightenment (information-superhighway) and globalization. We are adapting and embracing the ideals of consumerism and materialism at a very fast pace, yet, our national effort towards productivity is on a snails’ pace. To make our nation strong and stand tall, let us all endeavour towards qualitative contribution as opposed to quantitative.
I urge every Naga— Church workers, contractors, businessmen/women, technicians, scientists, teachers, doctors, workers’ skilled or unskilled, govt. servants— to give your best service. Our nation will progress better only if we give qualitative efforts at what we do. The greatest resource being human resource, we can ill afford to give our second-best, unless, we are hell bent on building a nation and a society of mediocrity.
