History is unkind to a generation that knows the truth but chooses convenience. It is unmerciful to intellectuals who see corruption but still rally behind it.
For the Naga people today, a new mindset and a new perspective is no longer an option. It is crucial. It is urgent. It is a matter of survival. For if the new Naga generation does not rise above compromised leaders and dirty politics driven by greed and narrow power, we will become victims in our own land — and our shared security and future will be far worse than today.
Be not confirmed, be transformed
Scripture commands: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” [Romans 12:2].
God never called His people to inherit the corruption of their fathers. He called them to transform it. When Israel followed corrupt elders, they went into exile. When a generation rose with a new mind — like Joshua and Caleb — they entered the Promised Land.
Morally, to support corrupted leaders while knowing they are corrupted is not loyalty. It is complicity. It is a betrayal of the blood of our martyrs, of the tears of our mothers, and of the future of our children.
For the Naga intellectual and youth, the moral question is simple and piercing: Will you use your education to justify greed, or to confront it?
Victims by design
1. The Politics of Compromise Has Made Us Victims in Manipur
Factually and politically, the Naga position in Manipur state politics has been weakened not only by adversaries outside, but by compromise inside. When Naga leaders trade the Naga future for a cabinet berth, for a contract, for personal security, they reduce a nation to a bargain.
For the Nagas of Manipur, this has meant:
– Land is encroached, but silence is bought.
– Unverified villages multiply in our ancestral hills, but questions are forbidden.
– Delimitation, Census, and NRC are conflated to dilute our representation, but our representatives look away.
– Our youth migrate without jobs, while our leaders celebrate narrow power.
This is not leadership. This is dirty politics — greed disguised as governance, and survival disguised as statesmanship. And in such politics, the people are always the victims.
2. If Intellectuals and Youth Rally Behind Corruption, the Future is Finished
This is the most dangerous tragedy of all.
When the intellectual — the professor, the lawyer, the officer, the student leader — knows a leader is compromised, corrupt, and self-serving, and still supports him for tribal affiliation, for money, or for fear, he signs the death warrant of his own people.
Critically and insightfully: A corrupt leader alone can do little. But a corrupt leader backed by educated youth and intellectuals becomes invincible — and the nation becomes invisible.
If the Naga intellectual class lends its eloquence to justify corruption, if Naga youth lend their energy to protect compromised power, then our shared security will collapse. Tomorrow will be worse than today. Because today we have problems. Tomorrow we will have no one left to solve them.
The adversary no longer needs to fight us. He only needs to fund our compromised leaders and watch our best minds defend them.
The new mindset
Intelligently, elegantly, and powerfully, we must define this new mindset:
1. From Tribe to Nation, From Narrow to Collective
The old mindset thinks: My tribe first, my group first, my leader first. The new mindset must think: Naga first, collective security first, future first.
We are not just Angami, Sumi, Ao, Tangkhul, Mao, Maram, Poumai, Maring, Thangal or any other Naga tribe. We are Nagas. And a house divided by tribalism and leader-worship cannot stand in politics in Manipur and in Nagaland.
2. From Coexistence by Fear to Coexistence by Strength
Coexistence with others — with Meiteis, Kukis, and all communities — is crucial. But coexistence cannot be surrender. It cannot be the coexistence of a victim.
True coexistence requires two things: Respect for others, and respect for ourselves. The new Naga generation must learn to coexist not by being submissive, not by being aggressive, but by being principled. To say: We will respect your rights, but we will vehemently protect ours. We will talk, but we will never trade our land.
3. From Follower Culture to Questioning Culture
In the jungle theory era, questioning was betrayal. In the new era, questioning is duty.
A new mindset asks: Where is the money? Where is the land record? Where is the legal cell? What is the strategy for NRC? What is our position on delimitation? What have you done for the village?
Intellectuals must stop writing praises for failed leaders. Youth must stop shouting slogans for those who sell the future.
4. From Power Politics to People Politics
Old politics seeks narrow power: a seat, a post, a flag on a car. New politics must seek people power: legally secured land, documented villages, educated youth, accountable District Councils.
Power that does not protect the people is not power. It is vanity.
Strategic imperative
For the Nagas of Manipur to not be victims, the new generation must act prudently and assertively:
1. Build Institutions, Not Personalities
Support village authorities, Churches, student bodies, and genuine CSOs that are transparent. Do not support cults of personality.
2. Create an Intellectual Army
We need a Naga Legal Defense Team for land and citizenship. A Naga Historical Documentation Team for ancestral records. A Naga Policy Team for NRC, Census, and delimitation. This is real security. Not gun security, but knowledge security.
3. Demand Accountability Publicly
Any leader who claims to represent Nagas must publicly declare assets, position on land protection, and position on Naga political solution. No more secret deals. No more lump-sum solutions that ignore ground realities.
4. Practice Principled Coexistence
Reach out to other indigenous peoples on issues of mutual survival: illegal immigration, protection of indigenous land, constitutional safeguards. Coexistence built on law is stronger than coexistence built on fear or favour.
Appeal to the new generation
To the Naga intellectuals, to the youth of Ukhrul, Senapati, Tamenglong, Chandel, and across Nagalim:
Hear this imploringly and seriously.
If you support and rally with corrupted leaders today for small gain, your children will pay a great price tomorrow. You will inherit no land, no voice, no security — only regrets.
But if you rise with a new mind, a new perspective, a new courage, you can change history.
Let it be said that when Manipur politics tried to make the Nagas victims, a generation rose that refused to be victimized. A generation that was eloquent, not emotional; strategic, not sentimental; united, not used.
May God, who anointed Daniel with wisdom in Babylon and Esther with courage in Persia, anoint this new Naga generation with a new mind to discern the times, a new heart to love the people more than power, and a new strength to stand when others bow.
Do not conform. Be transformed. Do not follow corruption. Confront it.
For if not you, who shall save the Naga future?
And if not now, when shall it be saved?
For the New Naga Generation. For Coexistence with Dignity. For Collective Security That Will Endure.
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Michael Meiphami Shaiza is Co-incharge of BJP Manipur State Political Programmes and Meetings and President of Ukhrul-based NGO Ecological Rehabilitators’ Association (ERA).
(Views expressed are writers’ own and do not, in whatsoever manner, reflect that of Ukhrul Now)
