To the Naga Youth of Today,
This is not a time for silence. This is not a time for borrowed slogans or recycled grievances. This is a time for awakened minds, for courageous scrutiny, and for responsibility.
I strongly encourage every Naga youngster to step forward. Expose the truth. Gain deeper insights into Public Policy, governance, and strategic analysis. Our survival, dignity, and future depend on our collective security. And collective security begins with collective wisdom.
The urgent need
The Naga society stands at a crossroads in Manipur. We are facing political pressure, social fragmentation, and identity erosion. Yet too often our response remains trapped in outdated narratives and a limited mindset bound by electoral and partisan interests.
What we need urgently is evolving intellectualism.
- Mindset: From reaction to reflection. From noise to nuance.
- Politics: From patronage to policy. From loyalty to leaders to loyalty to principles.
- Diplomatic Engagement: From emotional outbursts to principled negotiation, from street rhetoric to table wisdom.
The world has moved into post-modern complexity. Issues of land, identity, history, and rights cannot be reduced to slogans. They demand study, research, legal understanding, historical memory, and moral clarity.
The failure of representation
It is painful but necessary to say: the role of many elected representatives has failed horribly in this most crucial time in Naga society.
When the people are bleeding, confused, and threatened, leadership must rise above party lines and personal gain. But what we witness instead is the misuse of “Naga rights” and “people’s rights” to serve anti-people voices and self-serving interests.
This is self-endangering to the Naga nation at large. Technically, morally, and spiritually.
To invoke the name of the people while betraying the interests of the people is the highest form of deception. It misrepresents and misinterprets the core issues of Naga peoplehood and our shared identity.
Leadership without conscience becomes administration without soul.
A biblical and moral call
Scripture reminds us: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”- Hosea 4:6. And again: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy” – Proverbs 31:8-9.
Our struggle is not merely political. It is moral. It is spiritual. We are called to be a people of truth, justice, and covenant. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind – 2 Timothy 1:7.
To abandon critical thinking is to abandon stewardship. To abandon moral courage is to abandon our witness.
The political, social, and democratic imperative
Politically, we must analyze policies that affect Naga areas in Manipur with prudence and foresight. Not every law, not every delimitation, not every administrative order is neutral. We must read, debate, and respond intelligently.
Socially, we must protect the fabric of Naga community life. Division benefits our adversaries. Unity built on truth is our greatest defense.
Democratically, we must reclaim the meaning of representation. An elected leader is not a master. He is a servant. If he fails in crisis, the people have both the right and the duty to demand accountability.
A path forward
Naga nationalism must not become blind nationalism. True patriotism is introspective. It asks hard questions of ourselves first.
Are we preserving our identity or only performing it?
Are we defending our people or only our positions?
Are we building for the next generation or only winning the next election?
Let us be vehement in truth, powerful in wisdom, and inspiring in conduct. Let us be retrospectively honest about our past mistakes and prospectively bold about our future.
Conclusion: The time is now
Naga youngsters, you are not the future. You are the present.
Do not allow the sacred cause of the Naga people to be reduced to partisan games. Do not allow our shared identity to be fractured by those who speak in our name but work against our interest.
Study public policy. Learn diplomacy. Engage politics morally. Pray deeply. Speak beautifully. Act virtuously. Analyze brilliantly. Stand tremendously for what is right.
Manipur’s Nagas are watching. History is watching. God is watching.
Let this generation be remembered not for its silence, but for its awakening. Not for its confusion, but for its clarity. Not for its division, but for its magnificently united stand for truth, justice, and the collective security of the Naga people.
“For such a time as this” – Esther 4:14.
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)