‘The Sky is Falling’: On Naga Political Issue and the Naga Society

Every Naga may wonder if the political situation today is in Limbo; and Limbo is a Christian denomination idea of “an abode of souls that are barred from heaven because of not having received Christian Baptism”. Politically, the Naga life today is neither in Hell nor in Heaven; it is in Limbo.

When everything is said and done, at the end of the day, the simple reason for the limbo is, the Naga National Groups have not united: the NSCN (IM) refuses to accept what is called the “Agreed Position” of the Working Committee of the NNPG and the latter does not base their position on the “Framework Agreement”. On top of that, the Government of India initially declared that it would talk only with a united one whole Naga group, not with Naga groups separately and announced the end of Talks on 31 October, 2021, but the GoI is still in discussion with the NSCN (IM), and by 2025 it has entered into Ceasefire agreement with many groups the common people in Nagaland is ignorant about!    

In addition, the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) has recently convened meetings with APO, AO Senden, many hohos and tribe hohos, surprisingly including NNPGs and churches in support for their newly created NGO of ‘CNCR’, (Council of Naga Cooperation and Relationship) with a Naga Machan, coined for a Platform of Unity of all Naga.

If my understanding of the Ungma, Jotsoma and Zünheboto meets reported in the local papers is correct, the core of the meetings convened by the FNR appear to be aiming at a future common journey of Unity to speak on behalf of the Nagas.

In normal wish, I am for success of the Naga Machan, nonetheless, honestly I think it wouldn’t be easy for the new NGO to bring all the Naga Sheep to a New Machan. With brutal honesty: being only an NGO, not a political organ, the CNCR is simply not endowed with systematic political weight to represent the Nagas as a whole: and when the State Government had tried all the weights of the Assembly to knock the door of Delhi open but could not, I would think an NGO cannot, if not impertinent.

Unauthorised civilian cannot speak on behalf of the Government; the millions of civilian Palestinian population of Gaza cannot represent the Hamas, however few they may be today and enter into agreement with Israel on behalf of Hamas. Politically elected leaders have the authority to speak on behalf of their electors; the authentic positions of the representative and the represented are different.

And it is not the polity for a National Political Group to function under the umbrella of an NGO; it is misplaced for a political Naga National Group to function under the programmes of an NGO: no hatred; no ill will intended! 

In the Nagas’ long fight for their political rights; we have seen how Nagas are like: they are all united politically in one single political hope. Of all the Mongolian tribes of the North East, the Nagas have borne perhaps one of the heaviest burdens of their society’s stand for freedom: Nearly all Nagas suffered tremendously for their own lands and community; yet the Nagas have not yet achieved their political unity in full culturally and traditionally tribe by tribe. The tears of the clan, the core polity of the native Naga life, are still not yet fully dry.

It is Christianity, the Government of Nagaland and common good for the Naga only can unite them fully gradually; any Naga society not in line with the Naga Common Good is a reproach to the Nagas.

The Government of India has declared it would make agreement only with a single whole of the Naga group, not piecemeal with different groups, whereon the WC-NNPG and the NSCN (IM) initially agreed to unite and together make agreement with the GoI. The FNR would know the story in detail about the attempts made by the Naga Political Groups from Atlanta to Bangkok to Delhi to Calcutta to Dimapur and to Chumoukedima for the last 28 years to unite. However, the ‘Naga Side’ splintered into two: the WC-NNPG on their side reported the conclusion of Talk with GoI in their “17 September 2021 Agreed Position” but the NSCN (IM) is still carrying on Talk with the GoI without any final declaration.

At this rate, the old Indo-IM Talk may drag on indefinitely for generations till God raises able naga man and women to lead the people in future. 

The inability to think clearly in a situation is an indication of incompetence of the society; jumping into conclusions without critical assessment, disproportionate reactions; chatty, casual and superficial talks and lack of hard-headed reality, ends in fruitless unredeemable results.

Sadly and fearfully, increased superficiality and lack of shrewd dispositions seem to be increasingly observed in the Naga society today. The public expositions of written purposes in the public domain, of decisions, expressions, descriptions, statements, resolutions and writings in Nagaland display intelligence and formal qualifications of the head but less of the heart and of reality in today’s generation. Most appears to be looking not at their feet, the ground foundation on which they stand, but more at the sky and distant global horizons of the faraway, little knowing the reality of their own native kitchen.   

The great majority of the Nagas today were born after 1929, the year Naga Memorandum to the Simon Commission was made. Those were the days when the Nagas were living in their most peaceful days. There was no fear of losing the head to the ‘tiger of the jungle’ or to the enemy of their village. Those days were almost over, and the Good News of the Gospel was spreading like dawning of a new day. The colonial government ran with justice, fair play and honesty; education and development were guided in agreement to the level of the society. The government gave security to every village like the wall of a dependable fort. The news of the outside world was normally rare except World War I which had ended and World War II not known yet; life was all zestful in blissful satisfaction and happiness. There was no anxiety of the future, no regret for the past; everything went on blissfully peaceful and nice.

There were not the slightest thought of any political worry for the future of the Nagas in those days and the Naga memorandum said it never asked for any reformation nor did they want it. If the Nagas had said that, they would have continued (to live) under Assam and within a generation, they would have been hopelessly under Assam.

Even during the days just after Indian Independence, when this writer was in the middle of his teen years, he heard early Naga educationist officers saying that Nagas need not talk about Independence; they were Dependent even then. Nevertheless, a dozen and a half simple bare-foot, uneducated native interpreters in the Deputy Commissioner Office, expressed in no uncertain term, the core Naga desire that they didn’t want any interference in their own way of life. Unlike the educated Nagas, the uneducated interpreters sensed the Whiteman had to leave the land of the Nagas; and therefore asked the Commission to leave the Nagas as they were when the white man came to the land of the Nagas. What shrewd realists they were! 

A highly qualified Naga, while discussing, told me on the accurate preciseness of what the Naga memorandum conveyed in simple wisdom the reality of the signatories expressed. The memorandum composition could not be more precise, concrete and real; it needs nothing more to be added and nothing to be excluded; its wordings are simple, correct, straightforward, and high on reality; the present generation of educated Nagas measures up nowhere near.

These days, many educated Nagas do not look down at their feet to know where they stand- on foundation of rock or on foundation of lose filled-up soil. They stand up and look only at the horizon and sky, not at the ground they stand on; they know only about the sky and far off foreign global things, not of the native ground they stand on and speak in burrowed words mostly.

I think the fable of “The Sky is falling” of Henny Penny would open the eyes of the Nagas, and here it goes:    

Once a little chicken Henny-Penny was pecking at the ground in search of food at the end of the garden, and a chestnut acorn from the tree fell on its head. Henny-Penny was startled and said: “Goodness Gracious me”. She looked up and around; then she thought the sky must be falling down and decided to run to tell the King that the sky is falling. 

As Henny Penny ran along, she found a Cock; Cocky Locky.

“Where are you going?” Cocky Locky asked Henny Penny.

Henny Penny said: “The Sky is falling and I am going to tell the King.”

Then Cocky Lucky said: “May I come with You”? “Certainly,” said Henny Penny.

As Henny Penny, Cocky Locky ran along; the Duck, Ducky Locky asked: “Where are you going?” Henny Penny said: “The Sky is falling and we are going to tell the King.”

“May I come with you?” Ducky Locky said and joined Henny Penny and Cocky Locky. 

Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Ducky Locky ran along and the Goose, Goosey Poossey saw them. Goosey Poossey asked where Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Ducky Locky are running to.

Henny Penny said: “The Sky is falling and we are going to tell the King”. “May I come with you”, said Goosey Poossey, and joined the worried band.

Then as the great company ran together in great concern, Turkey Lurkey saw them and asked: “Where are you running to?”

Henny Penny in great concern said: “The Sky is falling and so we are going to tell the King.”

So Turkey Lurcky asked: “May I come with you?” and Henny Penny, Cocky Locky Ducky Locky, Goossey Poossey all together said: “Certainly” and he joined the Group in haste.

Then all the information bearers: Henny Penny Crackling, Cocky Locky Crowing, Goosey Poosey cranking, Turkey Lurkey Screeching, met Foxy Loxsy who enquired: “Where they all are going with such great noise”.

So they all said: “The Sky is falling and so we are going to tell the King.”

“May I also come; I know the short cut to the Kings Palace.”

“Certainly,” they all replied in one voice.

Then Foxy Loxsy said: “This is the way and showed the mouth of his own den and had nice dinner being hungry for a long time.  

Whoever has ears may hear.

Thepfulhouvi Solo. IFS [RR-68]