Benito Z. Swu
The year 2015 for the Naga people has been like that period prior to the declaration of the Second World War when, Germany, emboldened by the policy of appeasement, the desire of British Prime minister Neville Chamberlain to maintain world peace as far as possible, and the propensity of the American people and her President, William McKinley, to not get involved in an European war, unwittingly, had allowed brazen Germany to swallow country after country in Europe. Winston Churchill was not wrong when he remarked, “While Chamberlain strolled in counties, Hitler swallowed countries”.Had it not been for Winston Churchill who succeeded Neville Chamberlain in the nick of time as Prime Minister, and who knew war was coming whether Britain liked it or not, and thereby steeled himself and his country up, it was a certainty that Germany would have gulped up Britain and then Russia, if not Russia and then Britain. Again, it is not another story that, had not America entered the Second World War, the axis powers would have undoubtedly won the war. The hallmark of dictatorship that is the core of Fascism and Nazism would have ruled the roost, and the beauty of democracy that we see and have in the democratic world today would not have occurred even in the wildest dream of the fanatically optimist.
Some people prescribe to the thinking that politics and religion are two completely different entities and therefore should not go together. Nothing in this thinking can be farther away from the truth. Only those inclined to abuse religion to satisfy politics will say and do so. I believe, the truth is that, politics and religion must go together. Had God not intervened in the form of America entering the war, Hitler’s Nazi dream would have come true. People in the political arena needs to understand that without God there can absolutely be no win in politics. The German dead count in the last three weeks of the war much exceeded the fatalities she suffered during the entire duration of the war. How did this unimaginable turnabout occur? If this is not divine intervention, then what is?
Violating the treaty of Versailles, Germany had secretly and clandestinely, and on a wholesale scale, built up its formidable array of armaments the world had never seen before, while the rest of the world, blissfully unaware, were busy shoring up their respective economy in manufacturing and services after the devastating first world war. All the advantages were with the axis powers, and yet, in the end when it ultimately mattered, the axis powers crumbled. This Christmas, it is for all our politicians to remember that, without God and religion, politics will remain clay- footed. And that, it never takes a long time for the machinations of long, long, time preparations to crumble like a pack of cards.
The year 2015 for the Naga people has been a year of transparency. Naga people, as I see, believe, and understand, have discarded the old opaque Machiavellian politics of the past and has embraced transparent politics. It is very clear for all to see and realize that exclusive politics of all these years have failed to meet and satisfy the aspirations of the common Naga people. We the people will be failing on our part if we fail to play our role of strengthening this inclusive politics by giving due respect and credit to the architects of this great turnabout, which, in their God given wisdom have succeeded in bringing forth the smooth transition from exclusive politics to inclusive politics.
This Christmas, let us all humble ourselves and commit all our senses to Jesus – that one single binding factor which sees no color, caste, or creed, and which no power on earth can separate us from His love.
