Our Reporter
Dimapur, Nov. 10 (EMN): Former Nagaland Chief Minister SC Jamir was accorded a civic reception at Dimapur Airport on Wednesday upon his return from Delhi after receiving the Padma Bhushan Award.
The veteran Congress leader, who had also served as the governor of Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Odisha, was conferred with the third highest civilian award of the country at a ceremony held earlier this week for his service in public affairs.
The reception for the Padma Bhushan recipient was organised by the Ao Senso Telongjem Dimapur (ASTD).
Addressing the gathering, Jamir said that he did not expect to receive the Padma Bhushan, and thanked God for bestowing His blessings. He also said that ‘Nagaland stands as a state that rules, works and speaks on its own as it is full of gifted people’.
“I hope that our Naga people will treasure and use our gift wisely,” he said.
He added that he had received the award in his name “but this is actually for all Naga people for which we should live in honesty and gratitude to prevail greater things in life”.
He stated that the story of an ape, donkey and a tiger portrays the Nagas in many ways- an ape representing the primitive times of the Naga people lacking in knowledge, a donkey that needs to be burdened by goods in order for it to move, and a tiger that survives on bloodshed and flesh.
He said that all three animals represent the Nagas ‘as we are still lacking in many criteria and we cannot escape from them’.
He asserted that Naga society is still in the phase of thirst for blood, “but we should learn to escape from the three animals and advance towards the future”.
During an interaction with the journalists, Jamir shared that the award was in recognition of the services rendered by citizens of Nagaland.
“I represented parliament for the first time and whatever was awarded to me was a reflection of the Naga image all this years,” he said.
He expressed his gratitude to the government of India for recognising the contributions made by the Naga people towards nation building as he had served the country for more than 60 years.
With regard to the Naga political talks, Jamir reiterated that the representatives of the government of India and leaders of Naga political groups had, in their wisdom and political foresight as well as recognising the contemporary political realities had drawn out the Framework Agreement on August 3 in 2015 and the Agreed Position on November 17, 2017.
He stated that both were pragmatic agreements and therefore they should be proud that they had been able to draw out the agreements for the benefit for the people of Nagaland as well as the GoI.
‘They should uprightly tell the people that so far, under the circumstances, we have been able to achieve this for you, so the people should welcome this agreement made already by the Naga political groups,’ he said.
When asked if the Naga flag and constitution should be a part of the solution, he replied that both were not mentioned in the Framework Agreement and Agreed Position, because flag and constitution are attributes of an independent sovereign country. “And therefore, I do not like to comment on this,” he said.
He further appealed to the younger generation to cope with the changes of the world because they are the citizens of the 21st century; they should decide to live in the present and try to design a better future for the people of Nagaland and themselves.