Alice Yhoshu
KOHIMA, OCTOBER 28
Against the backdrop of recent upsurge of debates from various quarters surrounding the life of ‘Rani’ Gaidinliu, the Women Studies Centre Nagaland University (WSCNU) in collaboration with the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) Nagaland chapter organized a day-long regional seminar on ‘The Life and Times of Gaidinliu: Historical and Gender Perspectives’ on Wednesday at the NIELIT Auditorium, Meriema.
The controversy revolving around the government’s move to honour Gaidinliu is basically a construct–an appropriation – of interpretation, a scholar has said during the academic event.
Guwahati-based historian, Dr. John Thomas, whose work on religion and the formation of the Naga political identity has briefly touched on Jadonang and Gaidinliu, presented a paper on ‘History, Identity and the Politics of Representation’ on the occasion. The focus of his presentation was on the controversy and debate over the attempts of the central government to appropriate Gaidinliu as part of India’s struggle for Independence and construct memorials in her name.
According to him, a collective identity draws on the past to legitimize and validate its present notions of the self and in doing so, it becomes necessary for it to construct the heroes and villains of its particular history.‘It is only through such construction that it defines and affirms its own self in relation to the other,’ a paraphrased statement of his presentation says. While saying that such constructions may well be based on certain established and verifiable facts, the question was to what extent was it part of an attempt to use the past to legitimize the present rather than a sincere effort to better understand the past.
“The more Gaidinliu and her Heraka faith were excluded and distanced from the political and public life of the Nagas, the more VHP and such organizations warmed up to them and appropriated them,” he said. As far as the history of Jadonang and Gaidinliu and the religious and political movement they spearheaded were concerned, Dr. Thomas said, “they have either been romanticised and appropriated by the Indian nation state or been vilified and omitted by the Naga Christians and by extension, the Naga nation.”
WSC director, Dr. Rosemary Dzuvichu, who delivered a feminist critique on the ‘Web of Intolerance, Patriarchal Nationalism, Racism and the Gaidinliu Legacy’, underscored that Naga society spurted intolerance of religion when the observation of the 100th birth anniversary of Gaidinliu was announced.
“When we look at this young woman from the remote corners of Tamenglong, we see her life caught between her continuous fight with the British army and years of imprisonment where today we are actually looking at phases when Europe was actually looking at the first waves of feminism, we also had a Naga in these areas moving along with those ideas of feminism and this is something that is very interesting,” Dzuvichu said.
But in the name of religiosity, more controversy around Gaidiliu, her life and the movement that she struggled for erupted, she pointed out. She opined that in doing so, Naga Christianity has taken on the colour of a patriarchal mindset- not allowing the thoughts of a woman and the faith and struggle that she believed in, to be accepted within the society.
“When Nagas display religious freedom by welcoming the Hindus and Muslims, what is wrong with the Heraka movement and the Heraka religion?” she questioned, lamenting that self righteous and judgmental attitude today marks Naga Christianity.
On the political aspect too, Dzuvichu said patriarchy is deeply embedded that the people are now debating about the legitimacy of a woman leader who led a movement. Towards this end, she said that the people are really mixing up misinterpretations of what Gaidinliu really is, and maintained that more research needs to be done on her life, especially during her time of imprisonment. She feels that whatever is written about her carries some gaps which only the people who have known her and lived with her can fill in as the real stories of Gaidinliu’s life will emanate from them.
As a person who struggled for the cause of her movement and to protect her people from foreigners, Dzuvichu said, unbiased research on her life and experiences needs to be carried out. She maintained that the Naga mindset about Gaidinliu is caught in the negative discourse built around her which were interpreted and woven by men with a fixed patriarchal view. However horrifying her acts as alleged as a witch/sorcerer, proof of such acts must be substantiated, she added.
A cross section of people deliberated on the controversy surrounding Gaidinliu’s life and beliefs in different perspectives as resource persons, including NU Pro Vice Chancellor Prof. Lal, peace activist Niketu Iralu, Dr. Vijayalakhsmi Brara from Manipur University, Kekhrie Yhome from JNU & Kohima Institute, and NU historian Thungchanbeni Kithan. Former Zeliangrong People’s Convention member CR Zeliang and Dr. Ratanbo Kaurinta of NU also shared their reminiscence and personal perspective on Gaidinliu.
During the discussion hour, representative of the Naga Hoho, Medoselhou expressed that Gaidinliu has not done anything for the Nagas, rather a greater portion of her life was spent against the Nagas, sabotaging the cause of the Nagas. Thus, he said, to remember her and honour her is the perspective of a minor group of people and not in the interest of the Naga people as a whole.
According to former NLA speaker and Nagaland Tribes Council advisor, Z Lohe, Gaidinliu was a confused woman who has been branded as a freedom fighter by Indians. Speaking within the confines of Nagaland, he said, it is not in the interest of the posterity to venerate and idolize her.
