Being a Naga and Beyond

I remember vividly the night of 10th May, 1990; the streets of Kohima were full of people but quiet. I was four, proudly standing with my father as the nurses in white, my mother being one among them, held lit candles. Everything looked ethereal. A.Z Phizo’s body was being brought back home from London that night. All I knew was that someone important had died and was being brought back home. It was, I learned later, a possibility made by the efforts of all Nagas. Twenty five years later, July 1st, 2016, I am on a balcony near MLA Junction, watching people from all spheres of the Naga life and of all ages gathered to pay their respects to Yaruiwo Isak Swu Chishi. A young man carrying his few months old child, two old men in their best coats, a crew of hoodlums, wandering playmates, govt. employees, private entrepreneurs, masons, labourers, shopkeepers, women, men, children, families….all waiting for the arrival of Yaruiwo Isak Swu Chishi. Despite the long wait and the intervals of the Kohima rain, people stood as if holding on to something dear with dignity and unity, at least for that moment. As the body of the Lt. Yaruiwo arrived, one could feel the hearts of the Nagas beating together for once. It was in their shouts, their waves and their silence. People, I believe, braved the rain, apprehensions, distrust and the long wait, for someone who paid for their shared dream; a dream everyone paid for. This event, though a tragedy, had an impact of bringing people in Kohima together for a moment; something even churches find it hard to do in Nagaland. This appeared to me less like idolizing someone and more like reliving a lost dream, a long lost shared dream. It is a dream of being one, remaining one and passing it on despite the ideological or territorial differences, a hurtful past, forgotten struggle and an apprehensive future. I would like to believe so. The Kashmir effect She kissed me on my forehead and blessed me saying “May God give you a good husband”. Apart from the warmth of her love, I felt the very passion this mother shared with her daughter, Lt. Aasia Jeelani, a kashmiri martyr. Aasia was a young journalist who died in an IED explosion while monitoring the Parliamentary elections on April 20th, 2004. Leaving behind her dream of a high-life journalist in Delhi, Aasia had returned from her internship with The Times of India to work with the underprivileged Kashmiris. Her major work was the news letter “Voices Unheard” through which she told the world the stories of the suffering Kashmiri women. On her death anniversary it was shared that the death of Aasia had brought about a revival among the kashmiri youths, their passion for their struggle. I had the priviledge to visit Kashmir on one of the NPMHR (Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights) programs in 2013. It taught me some important lessons and left me questioning the Naga patriotism. First, the sight of the many youths turning up for the commemoration of Aasia’s death anniversary and the passion that oozed out with every shout of slogans. The number of youths turning up would be more than the congregation of a youth service in Nagaland. The second thing I noticed was a kind of protectiveness and respect they possessed for their martyrs. While visiting the martyrs’ cemetery, I happened to step on one of the martyr’s grave (due to lack of space) while taking a photo; this young man taps on my shoulder and rudely says “you are stepping on someone’s grave”. Though I was taken aback by his rudeness, I could not help but appreciate his reverence for the people who laid down their lives for their cause, his cause. Thirdly, the participation of the elite groups, academicians and activists in the struggle, or lets put it, their attitude towards the cause was something, it made THE DIFFERENCE. The constant assertion of their right to self-determination remains unbeatable. A lesson from JNU Since I joined JNU, I have often heard our professors, who had been JNU students themselves, mentioning how the student power had died down unlike their time. Thanks to the government, the JNU crisis had for the moment brought back the spirit of the student activism much reminisced about. The sight of thousands marching from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar, the ever increasingly diversified human chain, the 5 pm Nationalism classes under the open sky, a weird guy sloganeering in all his overwhelming bollywood style, conviction of newbies and all apolitical students to support the movement, the pouring in solidarity and the beyond-borders JNU unity, the return of the incarcerated leaders, late night gatherings at Freedom Square… all have been the varied faces of the JNU movement. The Movement reignited the democratic space where one noted professors at open talks mentioning groups like Nagas and Kashmiris and their right to self-determination. It also resulted in the endeavor of students from the mainland to sensitize their own people about the struggles of people under AFSPA. Meanwhile at home we saw some political groups organizing protests against the JNU movement. One evening in the University, I with some friends sat at a dhaba for a snack. Our discussions went to Christmas celebration which our Ladhaki friend was not familiar with. A long, arduous narration of the Christmas story bored him all the more. As our conversation reached on the topic of Phizo he said with delight “I have read about Phizo!” Daily encounter with auto drivers in Delhi is usually not so pleasant, but one rare incident happened shortly after the JNU crisis. The auto driver started to talk about the JNU movement, then went on to say that people should not accuse the Indian Army because they lay down their lives for the country. This is where I tell him about the atrocities committed by the Indian Army in Manipur, Nagaland and Kashmir. I assured him these were not lies. What was amazing was that this auto driver listened to everything I said without prejudice and in the end commented that the government should take care of it. And I thought, how amazing it would be if more non-Nagas listened to the Naga story without prejudice and more Nagas be well informed about their undiluted history. To Nagaland with love The fact that most Nagas from Nagaland do not consider their Naga brethren from Manipur as Nagas has always been a bone of contention in my talks with my Naga friends from beyond Nagaland. Despite my desperate attempt to explain why we are what we are, it is never enough and all the more not justified. We Nagas from Nagaland are not just ignorant of our history but also want to remain so. I myself grew up knowing very little about my history. But just because we don’t accept something does not make it any truer; it does not change history. Once at a fellowship in Delhi, an evangelist was sharing about his experience in Nagaland and his visit to Phizo’s memorial stone. Then he stressed on the idea of the Nagas considering Phizo as the Father of the (Naga) nation, and humored on how many fathers of the nation India has. The congregation, majorly Nagas from Nagaland, laughed and the sermon went on. On another instance, I came across some young Nagas who were very proud of their Indian identity that they strongly opposed even people from the other Northeast states for feeling less Indian. I remember my own high school days when with friends I would go on picnic to the Secretariat side. Not knowing anything about Phizo, we would play “catch-me-if-you can” and enjoy our lunches at Phizo’s memorial stone. Be it Lt. Kekuojalie Sachii and Lt. Vikhozo Yhoshii or A.Z Phizo, the way we view our martyrs and their memorials is contrasting to our acclaimed Naga pride. Here we are with a generation who find themselves in gratitude of the Indian government and totally ignorant of their history, while there is a generation that still thinks that India is a far away country and dreams that the Nagas will someday be independent, free. This gap is disturbing. It makes me wonder where we went wrong, at least in terms of passing down information. My Kashmir trip ended with some celebration where people got a little tipsy and started talking a lot. In such state of mind, one of our Naga guys kept making clichéd proclamations like “we are Nagas”, “proud to be a Naga” etc. The Kashmiri guy shut him up saying “Nagas are Nagas, and nothing beyond that”. This thought kept me up till now. Despite the gaps that remain, the fact that a Ladhaki scholar read about Phizo and mentions it with delight in a conversation; a reputed University in the midst of sedition accusations maintains the space for the Nagas right to self determination; an auto driver’s unbiased mind decides to listen to the Naga story; the pursuance of mainland students to tell our side of the story; the different tribes in Nagaland paid for bringing back Phizo’s body from London; and the fact that on July 1st, 2016 gathering at MLA junction comprised not only of Nagas cutting across gender, age and class but also solidarity shown by all non-Naga communities in Nagaland, I can now say that we Nagas are not just Nagas but much more beyond.

Videkhono Yhokha Research scholar, JNU videyhokha@gmail.com