People gather together during the Naga Convention for Reconciliation and Peace at Kohima
The FNR greets each of you in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ!
On this momentous day, I humbly stand before the Naga people with awe:
• That God is sovereign and Lord of all nations and peoples and powerfully present in our midst!
• That the Naga spirit is alive and kicking! Your presence here this morning proves it all.
• I am in awe, to realize that the future of the Nagas is right here, at our disposal to be ushered in by the Nagas themselves!
Therefore, this is a decisive moment for us. What we decide here is going to be important. Let no one go away from here without making a fresh commitment to the Naga cause, indeed to our destiny.
The Naga historical movement for safeguarding our historical and political rights is over six decades; one of the longest freedom struggles in modern political saga. The Naga history is soaked with blood and tears, pain and sorrow, wounds and scars. Our fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters have paid the price! Haven’t we all heard - stories of villages burnt down to ashes, parents with children driven to jungles, men tortured and put to death, women molested and raped. Many orphans and widows left behind to a life of struggle. This morning, there are people sitting right here as a living testimony to these facts.
These are our untold stories, the price of freedom paid during the early days of our struggle for our “historical and political rights.” Later and most sadly, the bitter conflicts from within coupled with the “rule through division” motto of the policy makers, the untold story continues. In all these it is futile to blame others. It is we the Nagas who should take the full responsibility for our present ‘self-defeating’ situation.
It is indeed appalling! The situation is extremely urgent and calls for immediate response from the Nagas. Dostoyevsky wrote:
“The ant knows the formula of its ant hill, the bee knows the formula of its beehive…only man (and woman) does not know the formula.”
However, recent trends in our history show signs of hope! We are finally beginning to learn our formula. The campaign for a common voice and movement towards Naga reconciliation has set its pace. We are traveling on this road. Nagas are no longer at the crossroads, as we were a year ago.
The FNR can attest to the fact that NSCN/GPRN, GPRN/NSCN, the FGN, the NNC (non-accordist), have all given their commitment to reconciliation. Impossible as it may sound to the Nagas, we are beginning to transcend personal and tribal lines today! We believe we are on the right direction, affirming our commitment to the process of reconciliation.
Nevertheless, let us know that our various leaders’ commitment to reconciliation is just the beginning. There are difficult areas to be covered. Conflicts built over decades take time to undo. But this is not the time for us to be pessimistic or cynical. Let us applaud our leaders for a strong beginning, the tremendous courage and risk taken towards Naga reconciliation. All together we have met 10 times, at home and abroad, besides cooperating in activities such as soccer matches and combined choir team.
By nature, human beings are inclined to gather together with people who think alike, who feel and believe the same, who praise and patronize mutually. Often this philosophy can turn out to be thoroughly exclusive. This “exclusiveness” sets in motion a kind of apartheid politics – persecution of “those different,” party hunts, tribal hate and so on. I believe the root of this problem lies in the enormous, overpowering apprehension, misgiving, and uneasiness within us, which is the inevitable by-product of arrogance and hate.
However, the more we trust each other and grow together, the more man and woman of different tribes mix together - we will live freely and in respect of each other. Every fish needs water in order to swim. Every bird needs air to fly. These are elements, the right environment for fishes and birds. Likewise, Nagas need TRUST in order to live freely and humanly. This is our element, the right environment for healthy co-existence.
The Naga family can be creative and transformative. There is no East and West, educated and uneducated, advanced and backward, rich and poor, man and woman, righteous and unrighteous. God in Christ justifies the wayward, redeems the enemy, welcome the outcasts of society. His love is not like ours, drawn only to people like ourselves and those who affirm us. This divine side of love has been passed on to all Christians to creatively work out. This powerful secret has not been applied into our politics. I often hear from our leaders who say, “Spirituality is one thing and politics is another thing,” which basically means, “I believe in personal justification with God, but not with our fellow humanity.” That is not the total Gospel. Woe to us if we hold on to such a view!
The challenge for us as God’s people is this: we must be willing to overturn exclusive and repressive societies at their boundaries. Our faith in God becomes real only as we recognize and respect one another as man and woman after God’s own image. Only then can the Nagas pull down and destroy the fences of apprehension, misgivings and uneasiness that exist between us.
Remember, it is creative love in Christ which makes the hateful beautiful, and transforms evil into good. Such creative love can become the power in Naga politics. Such kind of politics has worked miracles in and around the world starting from the Balkans to South Africa.
The word reconciliation has been misused and misunderstood among us. We speak of reconciliation and peace, calls to reconciliation and peace are made when there is no reconciliation and peace! We comfort the people in their misfortune, telling them it is not at all so bad. Appeasement is substituted for reconciliation. We long for reconciliation with our “enemies,” but we avoid the confession of our guilt and wrongs. So, who will believe those who talk of reconciliation with others yet do not themselves practice it? For this reason, the common Naga questions reconciliation, for they see everywhere the un-truthful practice of “appeasement” and “propaganda.” Toward such a stance the Naga people are totally disillusioned.
In the social, cultural and political context of the Nagas, reconciliation means a new Naga destiny with God and one another. Our nationalism was founded on the “historical and political rights of the Nagas” by our founding fathers and mothers. These founding leaders took their stance on the principle of all Nagas without any demarcation. To demonstrate, to practice and to preserve Naga freedom through reconciliation, therefore, at this time in our history means to preserve the long breath of hope in solidarity, between hate and anger, and between reaction and revolution. Today we must, in all honesty accept the pain and dismay of our situation. Some among us think reconciliation cannot be the sane approach in our context. But such a position emerges out of a defeatist mind-set. This leads to the conclusion that conflict among us is inevitable. Over the past months such a view has been defied. The truth is if all are not reconciled, in reality we are not reconciled. Not until there is reconciliation the law of retaliation will continue.
Let this be clear - Nagas can be made free through reconciliation, the only viable option laid before us today. This secret is our hope for a divided Naga house. We must make the cry of freedom out of the depths of the oppressed Nagahood, and answer the call to reconciliation with a resolute will. We believe in Naga-hood which is freed through reconciliation. Creative freedom, peace, and unity originate out of reconciliation and not out of law and order.
Our problems are created by us. And therefore these can be solved by us. No problem of Naga destiny is beyond us. Through God and our reason and the right spirit Nagas can solve the seemingly unsolvable problems. We believe we can do it!
Finally, let us know that the preservation of our historical and political rights will depend upon an alert populace. The Nagas will have to guard our rights jealously and with vigilance from all forms of external and internal divisive and disruptive acts. We need to stop hoping that only a few will arise to lead us out of difficulty. Above everything, we must learn that all Nagas, no matter which tribe, region or creed, have an investment in the future of Naga-Lands. We must return to the vision of the “historical and political rights of the Nagas” or our children and the generations that will follow will continue to suffer because of the commitment we have not kept.
“Undimmed by fears and tears
Join hands through broken line,
Our flag with dignity,
Shall stand tall in radiance, solidarity now!
Naga_lands forever be!
Sing our song together; Nagas come raise your voices,
Sing our together, towards our rightful place
Through healing of our spirit, Kuknlaim! Yes, Kuknalim!
This keynote address was presented during the Naga Convention for Reconciliation and Peace on February 22 at Kohima Local Ground