If the Nagas in Manipur are not consciously awakened – intellectually and politically – to produce sacrificial leaders with fearless hearts above tokenism and nepotism politics, they will continue to sink deeper into greater damage for the current and upcoming generations. Evidentially, the worst saga is yet to unfold.
This is not a political statement. This is a moral cry, a biblical lamentation, and a historical warning.
The Intellectual Death: A People Without Vision
A people that refuses to think critically is a people preparing for its own funeral. Intellectually, we have become lazy, comfortable with WhatsApp forwards, press releases, and slogans. We have stopped reading our own history. We have stopped analyzing the Indian Constitution, Article 371C, the Hill Areas Committee, and the Indo-Naga political reality.
Unawakened Nagas are Nagas who react but never reason, who protest but never plan, who shout but never strategize. When intellect dies, tokenism thrives. We celebrate a photo with a Minister as achievement. We celebrate a mere MLA seat as liberation. This is not politics; this is political beggary.
The Bible warns us: “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6. Our destruction today is not because our enemies are too strong, but because our knowledge is too shallow.
The Political Death: Tokenism and Nepotism – The Twin Cancers
Politically, we are killing ourselves with two cancers: tokenism and nepotism.
Tokenism is when we are given a chair without power, a position without authority, a committee without decision. And we accept it with garlands. The Government of Manipur has mastered this art – give one Naga a token post, and the entire voice of the Nagas is silenced. We are bought cheaply.
Nepotism is worse. We no longer produce leaders; we produce family heirs, clan representatives, and church-faction candidates. Leadership is no longer based on sacrifice, competence, and fearlessness, but on surname, money, and proximity to power in Imphal and Delhi. How can a leader who has never sacrificed for the people ever stand for the people? How can a leader who got his position through nepotism ever challenge nepotism in the Government?
This is why six Naga brothers can be butchered and we have no collective political response. Because our so-called leaders are not leaders – they are beneficiaries of tokenism. They are afraid to speak, afraid to resign, afraid to lose their token chair.
The Biblical and Moral Imperative: Where are the Sacrificial Leaders?
Naga history was never built by token leaders. It was built by sacrificial leaders. From the early resistance to the present political movement, it was always men and women who had fearless hearts, who could say, like Esther, “If I perish, I perish.”
Where are those leaders today in Manipur?
The Bible does not call us to be politically correct; it calls us to be morally upright. Moses did not accept tokenism from Pharaoh. He demanded, “Let my people go.” David did not negotiate with Goliath for a token compromise. He confronted him with a fearless heart.
A sacrificial leader is one who will lose his position but not his people; who will lose his contract but not his conscience; who will lose his comfort but not his community.
Without such leaders, we are not a nation; we are merely a population waiting to be administered by others.
The Social and Emotional Cost: The Damage to Generations
If we do not awaken now, the damage will be irreversible and multi-generational.
Socially, our youth will learn that politics is about survival, not service. They will learn that honesty is punished and flattery is rewarded. Emotionally, they will grow up with the trauma that their brothers were killed, their land was violated, and their leaders said nothing. This creates a generation that is cynical, angry, and uprooted.
A generation that has not seen fearless leadership will never become fearless itself.
The Future: The Worst Saga Yet to Unfold
Let us be brutally honest and introspective. What we see today – the killing of Nagas, the erasure of our political rights, the dilution of Article 371C – is only the beginning.
If we continue with tokenism and nepotism, the worst saga can and will unfold:
Our ancestral land will be redefined by others in our absence.
Our history will be written as a footnote in someone else’s story.
Our political future will be negotiated without us, over our heads, and against our interests.
Our children will ask us: “Where were you when our brothers were butchered and your leaders were silent for a chair?”
The Final Appeal: Awaken Now
Therefore, this is a vehement, imploring, and powerful call to every Naga soul in Manipur:
Awaken intellectually – Read, research, reason, and rise above propaganda.
Awaken politically – Reject tokenism. Reject nepotism. Demand merit, sacrifice, and fearlessness.
Awaken spiritually – Return to the biblical principle that leadership is servanthood and sacrifice, not lordship and luxury.
Awaken collectively – We need not a hundred timid politicians; we need ten sacrificial leaders with fearless hearts who cannot be bought, threatened, or silenced.
Let this generation produce leaders who will stand in the Hill Areas Committee, in the Manipur Legislative Assembly, in Delhi, and in the wilderness if necessary, and speak the truth without fear.
If not now, when? If not us, who?
For if we fail to awaken today, history will not forgive us, God will hold us accountable, and the coming generations will bear the painful cost of our cowardice and comfort.
Let the Nagas of Manipur awaken.
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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)
