This writer in one of its articles published in 2017 attributed the demand of the Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation (ENPO) and its subordinate bodies to the ‘politics of elites’ played in Kohima for creation of ‘Frontier Nagaland’, detaching from the present state of Nagaland as a separate administrative unit within Indian Union. Understanding ENPO demand requires prior appreciation of the state of affairs existing during pre-British phase and pre-Indian occupation of lands in the easternmost region of the present-day Nagaland by acknowledging a simple fact that the people of the frontier identified themselves as ‘free people’. The Government of Nagaland (GoN) in acknowledgement of this virtue has acted in the interest of the region by creating the Department of Underdeveloped Areas (DUDA) and extends other grants to the people, too. However, as alluded to above, it is the tacit connivance between politicians and elites along the corridor of power in Kohima denuding the region of its extended assistance for growth and development, perpetuating imbalanced job ratio in public sector and persistently fuelling discontentment.
Continued territorial integrity of ENPO areas and the current Nagaland state will primarily be conditioned by how Kohima play its part not by effective diplomacy alone but also by deterministically understanding the basic problems encountered by the people of the region. Policymakers must have been contemplating on the next charter of actions to restructure the fault-line running along the ever widening socio-economic divides between Eastern and ‘virtual’ Western Nagalands, moving on a collision course. In the process, policymakers ought not to also overlook the challenging administrative and structural empowerment of the region and its people. Retrospective examination for amending our administrative set up (if flawed) and economic lacunae plaguing both the regions is categorical in confidence building, while not forgoing the critical platform of exchanging ideas to pre-empt the predicament lies dormant.
This writer, after a day-long wait, was denied access for a short tête-à-tête with an administrative head of a particular department for some personal work. It was learnt thereafter that the concerned administrative head was engaging in an informal conversation with fellow peers to, on purpose, elude entertaining public visitors. Such experiences are not confined but prevalent. A single journey from the easternmost part of Nagaland to the State Capital involves distance, time, energy, resources and simultaneously faces multiple logistic challenges. When all these aspects are accounted for in monetary term, it may cost a person from the region a considerable amount (to the tune of a year-long savings). A person once lamented his arduous journey he had undertaken in his ‘scooter’ covering over 200 km in distance from Kiphire to the State Capital, to have had his work done in a certain department. The disadvantaged geography in timely accessibility of administrative work plays against the interest of the people in the ENPO region. These are few isolated cases but it comes in the way of emotional and geographical integration.
The discontentment, however, is not limited to the administrative inconvenience alone. Successive regimes have failed to ensure adequate representation in government jobs as per the extant policies of the State Government. Equal participation is envisaged when guidelines for open recruitments to fill up vacant jobs in public sector are adhered to. Nonetheless, a level playing field is suppressed through the practice of irregular appointments and it perpetuates imbalanced representation, which is deemed biased against the ENPO areas.
Pace of physical development, especially in road sector, is also dismal throughout the state. However, the ENPO areas suffer the most when our only mode of mobility is by far by road and thus they are distanced farther by the combined factors of geography and decades of neglect in road infrastructure. As a result, there arises wide socio-economic divides burdening ENPO region and affecting incomes of the latter. For instance, farmers in Tuensang in 2017 disposed of annual ginger produce at a very low price of Rs 4 per kilogram which would otherwise fetch around Rs 100 in the market in and around the State Capital.
Such are some of the tangible elements of discontentment manifested by the people through a demand for separate Frontier Nagaland entailing the geographical areas falling under the ENPO jurisdiction. The demand stems from the perceived notion that the ENPO areas shall be unchained from the shackles of apparent discrimination allegedly orchestrated in Kohima and address prolonged challenges in connectivity. Contrarily, these objectives might not be easily addressed as instances may be evinced from recent experiment wherein creation of smaller districts with an aim to resolve regional disparity hardly bears any desirable result.
An emotional understanding of the demand for Frontier Nagaland portrays a complete legit and ideal presentation of a separate entity. Notwithstanding the above, when one sees the demand through the prism of empirical observation, a move to create Frontier Nagaland is slightly skewed by the region’s quest for leadership and authority. Who on earth will not wish to wield power to effect a desired change. However, we must remember the fact that leadership and authority in Nagaland further divide our already fragmented society along the socio-political fault-line. Earlier, civil society organizations (CSOs) and tribal bodies dispensed crucial services in protecting social and cultural interest of the Nagas, which is so, to some extent, till date. Meantime, it’s time for us to reminisce whether we have erected virtual fences within ourselves by ascribing organizations like NTC, TPO, CNTC, UNC and ENPO a politically coloured image. Ontological understanding of these consortiums bears an impression that our CSOs have almost constituted themselves into blocs and pitched itself against the other with its constituents dancing to the tune of politically motivated rhetoric. It won’t be an exaggeration to state that individualistic ambition for leadership / social position has precipitated flourishing of organizations (including Churches) and separates its adherents/faithfuls.
Consortiums of civil societies assume supra-tribal superstructure accumulating high social standing within their sphere of influence. Its constituent communities owe them communal obligation to lend support and loyalty lest the errant constituent unit gets socially, culturally, and politically ostracized. Therefore, the present imbroglio of extreme regionalism amongst the Nagas themselves is attributable to hyped notion of liberation from the clutches of the other conglomerate of CSOs perceived to have been exercising absolute power at the expense of other conglomerates. In doing so, our society is obtrusively polarized along cultural affinities and it appears to plant new divides amidst our persisting journey towards integration of our lands and peoples across the border. Much of our resources are unfortunately pooled towards sustained division, tribalism, regionalism and gradually undoing what we aspire for – integration.
ENPO has projected that a move for Frontier Nagaland would not impede a common predisposition for integration of the Naga peoples. Nevertheless, ENPO may need to re-evaluate its stance by taking into account the ever distancing brotherhood between Naga peoples separated by artificial boundaries as our hope of coming together as one people is getting dimmer. We have already classified our people based on geography as Nagas of Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Myanmar. Soon, we will have another classification by the name ‘Nagas of Frontier Nagaland’ unless a move for Frontier Nagaland is reversed. This is a humble appeal to the ENPO executives to reconsider its demand for Frontier Nagaland, and instead pressure the State Government to protect the interest of its people by exploring alternative solutions like commissioning of Mini Secretariat in Tuensang HQs, introduction of Minimum Support Price for farmers, establishment of Discrimination Registration and Resolution Bureau to fast-track cases of discrimination in both private and public sectors, Regional Autonomous Territorial Council to administrate the affairs specific to the region, etc. Frontier Nagaland, again, may result in further perceived discrimination at the hands of the dominant community. Anyhow, ‘if’ Frontier Nagaland is a necessity, there is no better way to listen to the people than through a referendum. People will speak up their minds when provided with an opportunity.
Nukhosa Chüzho
Kohima
(khozch@gmail.com)