Benito Z. Swu
The framework agreement has been signed and the accord remains to be signed. But, surely, the distance between the cup and the lip has to be covered. It is becoming increasingly clear that a fair distance needs to be covered both in the homefront and in Delhi before we actually gets to sip. In the Delhi front, Prime Minister NarendraModi’s desire and intention to bring forth lasting peace in Nagaland at the earliest possible time is never in doubt. But, however very significant it may be, arithmetic in the Upper House says it is not enough. Minds, and therefore, numbers needs to be convinced and conquered with irrefutable facts and in conveyance with ground realities. This, however, is not the longer half of the distance.The real distance has to be covered in the homefront. For the Nagas today, the time is never more right to seriously remember the “Serenity Prayer.” The prayer goes; “God, Grant us the serenity, to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”We can never expect a positive outcome when we are always in competition from amongst ourselves to occupy the moral high ground. Somehow, somewhere, Nagas failed to capitalize on the First Ceasefire Agreement of 1964. The missed opportunity is all the more felt because the three members of the then Peace Mission were much seasoned men of impeachable integrity, who were well versed and sympathetic with the Naga issue.
Since then, it has been all downhill. The formation of the “Revolutionary Government of Nagaland,” in 1968, in itself, was a debilitating body blow to the Naga National Movement. Then came the Shillong Accord in 1975 which further diluted the Naga National Movement.
However, God gives second chances. And in this second chance, it is only imperative for us to go back to our roots – to where it all began. Here, we have reasons to learn from the BJP Party. Inspite of what critics might have to say, the BJP knew what it had to do and what it is doing. The BJP honored its beginning. Veer Savarkar coined the word, ‘hindutva,’ the concept that forms the ideological core of the BhartiyaJanata Party. Veer Sarvarkar, the founding father of hindutva politics, however, was for long a marginal figure in mainstream politics. Infact, for several decades after independence, saffron organizations were reluctant to acknowledge Savarkar’s contribution in laying the basis of their politics. Only after the legitimizing of Savarkar’s legacy and giving it momentum did the BJP become a force to reckon with in national politics. In 2003, the BJP led NDA Government installed a portrait of Savarkar in the Central Hall of Parliament. Today, Port Blair (where Savarkar was incarcerated in the Cellular Jail) has an airport and a park named after Savarkar. Mumbai has a street and a park that bears his name. In London, a blue plaque identifies India House in Highgate, where Sarvakar lived.
I, for one, believes that the sixty years of being in the wilderness for the Nagas is because of our oversight or failure to honor our grandfather, A.Z. Phizo – the father of Naga Nationalism.Earlier, there was no such thing as a composite Naga people until A.Z. Phizo came on the scene. It was he, who propounded the theory of the Naga Nation as such. All these while, we have been painting him with any color of our choice to meet our convenience, without ever giving him the due acknowledgement which, needless to say, only he deserves. He is the Genesis of our story. No wonder, without invoking his blessing, confusion, disunity and stalemate is what we always ends up with. He, as such, is and should be the meeting ground for all of us, the Nagas, if we are to ever reach an honorable and acceptable solution, both within ourselves and with Delhi. And to meet this end, all of our respective houses has to be willing and in order.
