Thepfulhouvi Solo
India may have difficulty in affecting the integration of all Naga Inhabited Area into a single Territorial Unit in the present political dispensation; and the IM have expressed understanding of India’s difficulties. Thus under the situation, the best that Muivah can bring out of a difficult situation is to have, at most, a PAN-NAGA Organization which he and his collective Authority may ultimately formalize.
The IM has expressed its intension to accommodate as much Traditions and Customs of the Naga as possible in the possible Accord. This is a welcome Idea and the Naga have nice Customs and Traditions of governance of their life.
‘Pan-Naga’ means; ‘wholly Naga’ or ‘all Naga’ and the Naga has already an Integrated Naga Consciousness. So it is even a good Idea to have a Pan-Naga organization common to all Naga. To have a strong foundation of a Pan-Naga Body, it must be composed of fundamental Naga democratic traditions.The Naga has every compact, natural components or Parts for a composite Organization. The VILLAGE is the principal component of the Naga Polity. The Village is composed naturally of endogamous THINUO or MEPU or KIONG etc, each tribe in its own Tongue; and the Thino, popularly known as Khel, is composed of a more or less number of exogamous CLANS or KIDONG. The Clan Name normally forms importantly the identifying second name of every Naga. Thus organs like TRIBE, REGION, VILLAGE, THINUO and CLAN are descending natural, very stable organizational echelons of the Naga Society.
For the purpose of Administration; with the coming of the colonial Power, a common Area with a more or less number of Villages formed a KICHA or REGION or RANGE of the TRIBE. So every Tribe has natural and systematic echelons of Organs that run the Society like a well oiled many wheeled Watch.
These natural echelons of the Organs of the State must finally function in the Pan-Naga Federation. Today, in consonant with modern times, a more or less number of Tribes constitutes an Body bigger than the Tribe. This is the STATE. A more or less number of Tribes forms the State. The Naga communities from the different States together may finally form the PAN-NAGA Body.
When the Pan-Naga Body is formed with the above mentioned traditional Naga Community Parts, the resultant composite Pan-Naga Body would be very compact, strong and stable.
The Naga Hoho is a PAN-NAGA Body; but actually, as of today, the Naga Hoho is like the awesome figure in the Dream of the great Chaldean Emperor Nebuchadnezzar of the ancient. The dream was a magnificent figure with magnificent top of Gold and Silver, but downwards, the Body becomes progressively of less and less value till below the groin the material becomes gross Metal; and finally the Feet of the great awesomely figure is only a common fine Clay!
The Naga Hoho today has become a malleable, recycled, purchasable Tool of the Government, or of some armed Groups or of some powerfully rich people. It does seem to be interested to cater to the needs of the low common grass but behave like Prophets in the King’s kitchen.
It lies with Muivah today to a great extent, whether to make Pan-Naga a real stepping Stone for the destiny of the Naga People or just a ‘has been’ in the history of the Naga. We would never want to let the PAN-NAGA Body to become a Naga Haha!
One of the greatest Evil of the Naga Society today is the unholy practice of purchasing NGO by the Rich and the Powerful. The Government appears to be learning the practice of paying chosen Invitees to Important consultative Meetings to toe its Agenda! Ethically, Morality, these are nothing less than despicable Bribes. It will be very destructive to the Naga if the IM adopts such practices after their Accord of Peace with the Government of India is finalized.
The indigenous scheme of Naga Governance has great potential for the good of the Naga Society. An important point in the natural system of governance of the Society lies in the discouragement of Excessive Centralization of Authority and Systems of Monopoly. The Decision making Body is not necessarily from the Top-to-the-Bottom, it is from the Bottom-to-Top. That is how Naga Democracy runs, not from top to bottom but from bottom to top.
This is not only the purest Democracy but also equality Democracy with proliteriate Communism mixed together!?
When the Village need of an important decision, the need is sent from the high Village Council to the lower Body; from Thinuo, it goes down to the Clan and the Clan talks it over with the fundamental Families that constitutes the Clan and sends their considered decision higher up. The most Authoritative Organ of the Naga Society is the Clan.
The echelons of decision making Organs in the Village are first, at the fundamental Ground level, -the single specific Clan- from where it goes up to the Thinuo Level and from there, it goes further up to the Village Council.
Before the British administration came, there was no decision making Organ above the Village. War and Peace rests with the Village as the apex Authority, but with the coming of the colonial Power, a more or less number of Villages were constituted necessarily into a common Range or Region and a number of Regions formed the Organ of the Tribe.
Now with the coming of the Independence of India and the Naga Hills constituted into a State, a Pan-Naga Tribes of Nagaland formed the State Assembly, the Highest law making body of the State.
If the Indo-IM political Accord is finalized in detail, it is rumored, there will be a PAN-NAGA FEDERATION of the Naga of Arunachal Pradesh, of Assam, Manipur and of Nagaland though not with a Unified Territorial Unit. The Federation will have Component from each State in the form of a State Pan-Naga Federation looking after its own affairs. When this is done, it will form the first step in the ultimate Naga Political journey of a thousand Li.
This Pan-Naga Federation must be something similar to the European Union with COMMON SOCIO-ECONOMIC INTEREST but SEPARATE State POLITICS of its own.
Nagaland is interested to preserve the Naga Character of the State and must maintain its separate State or Province to look after its own affairs even when the Pan-Naga Federation becomes an Independent Entity territorially just before Jesus Christ returns.
