There is a truth we have avoided for too long, a truth that is hard, painful, but necessary for our existential survival.
Just shouting “Naga Historical Rights” alone will not save the Nagas.
History alone does not build a nation. Rights alone do not build a peoplehood. Slogans alone do not build a future.
What builds a nation is justice, fairness and accountability. Without these three pillars, every historical right becomes an empty parchment, every political movement becomes a private enterprise, and every talk of peoplehood becomes hypocrisy.
This is the hard reality of human organizational development in all history and all civilization. There is no civilization that survived without internal cleansing. There is no overnight building. There is no instant solution.
The hard reality
We Nagas have the strongest historical rights in this region. Our history is unique. Our identity is distinct. Our political right is undeniable. No one can erase that.
But let us be introspectively and critically honest: What have we done with those rights?
For more than 70 years we have talked about our unique history to Delhi, to the world, to the United Nations. But have we practiced unique justice within our own society?
We negotiate and demand justice from India, but do we give justice to a common Naga villager in our own village court?
We expect and demand accountability from the Government of India, but do we practice accountability in our own Naga organizations, our own factions, our own tribal bodies, our own NGOs?
We negotiate, demand and expect freedom from India, but have we freed our own people from fear, from nepotism, from corruption?
A historical right without internal righteousness is like a beautiful house without a foundation. It will collapse from within before the enemy ever touches it.
Look at all history. The Roman Empire did not fall because of external enemies alone. It fell because of internal corruption. The great kingdoms of the world did not fall because their history was weak. They fell because their justice was weak.
The same law applies to us. The enemy will never build a Naga peoplehood. The enemy will only divide us. If we are to be destroyed, it will be because we destroyed ourselves from within through political corruption and financial corruption.
The two corruptions
We need urgent internal cleansing from two deadly corruptions.
A. Political Corruption: This is the corruption of power.
It is the system where leadership is not based on merit, sacrifice and vision, but on tribe, clan, family and faction. Where a position is given not because you are capable, but because you are my nephew. Where a ticket is given not because you can serve the people, but because you can pay the highest amount. Where tribalism is more powerful than Nagaism/ Nagahood.
This political corruption has made Naga politics a business of families, factions and clans . It has made our organizations a property of a few individuals. It has killed meritocracy and murdered the dream of the common Naga youth.
How can we claim to be a peoplehood when our own politics divides us by tribe, clan and family in every election, every appointment, every organization?
B. Financial Corruption: This is the corruption of money.
It is the system where public money meant for Naga nation-building becomes private money for house-building. Where funds collected in the name of Naga national movement are used for personal luxury. Where development funds for the village become funds for the leader’s family in Dimapur, Kohima, Imphal and Delhi.
This financial corruption is not just illegal. It is morally cursed. Biblically, the Bible says in Isaiah 1:23, “Your rulers are rebels, partners with thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow’s case does not come before them.”
When we steal from our own people in the name of our own movement, we commit a double sin. We sin against law, and we sin against our own blood.
This is why the common Naga is tired. He loves the Naga cause, but he hates the Naga corruption. He respects the history, but he rejects the hypocrisy.
No overnight solution
This is a hard reality for the new generation to understand.
There is no overnight building. There is no instant solution. You cannot build a peoplehood in one meeting, one agreement, one election.
Every great peoplehood in human history took decades of painful internal cleansing, internal reform, and internal discipline to become great.
The Jews suffered for 2000 years but built internal justice through Torah. The Japanese were destroyed in World War II but built a progressive peoplehood through discipline and accountability. The Germans were divided but reunited through moral cleansing and new mindset.
For the Nagas, this means we must accept that our freedom will not come only from a political agreement signed in Delhi. Our true freedom will come when we have the courage to cleanse ourselves from within.
An agreement without internal cleansing will only transfer corruption from one office to another. A settlement without justice will only settle the leaders, not the people.
Therefore, internal cleansing is not anti-national. It is the highest form of nationalism.
Call to Naga youngsters
This is a vehement, imploring and powerful call to the Naga youngsters.
The old generation has done its part, with both glory and failure. Now the responsibility is yours.
You must arise fearlessly with a new Spirit for a revolutionized mindset and methods.
a) Arise with a New Spirit: Not the old spirit of tribalism, nepotism, and factionalism. But a new Spirit – the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth, courage and sacrifice. As the Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” You need a sound mind, not a tribal mind.
b) Arise with a Revolutionized Mindset: Stop thinking like your fathers thought – “My tribe first.” Start thinking, “Naga peoplehood first.” Stop asking, “What is my clan’s benefit?” Start asking, “What is the Naga nation’s benefit?” This is a revolution of mindset.
c) Arise Above Partisan and Nepotism: Refuse to be part of any group that promotes tribe, clan and family over merit. Refuse to support any leader who builds his family while your village suffers. Have the courage to say NO to your own uncle if he is corrupt. True loyalty to the Naga people means disloyalty to corrupt tribalism.
d) Build a Progressive Peoplehood: A progressive peoplehood is not built on slogans. It is built on systems. Systems of justice where every Naga gets a fair hearing. Systems of fairness where every youth gets equal opportunity. Systems of accountability where every leader, whether overground or underground, must answer where the money went.
This is the only way to build a peoplehood that will survive for 1000 years.
Conclusion
Let this truth be etched in the heart of every new Naga youth:
The enemy will not build a Naga peoplehood. Delhi will not build it. Imphal will not build it. The factions will not build it. Money will not build it.
Only we can build it, and we can only build it after we cleanse it.
Historical rights give us the right to exist. But only justice, fairness and accountability will give us the power to survive.
May God grant the new Naga generation the fearlessness to cleanse the inside first, so that the outside can be strong forever.
For unless the Lord builds the house, and unless we cleanse the house, the builders labour in vain.
Let the cleansing begin. Let the new generation arise.
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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)
