The Collective Naga Issue is sacred ground. It belongs to no single dialect. It belongs to no single tribe. It is the inheritance, the burden, and the hope of an entire people.
Therefore, one ethnic dialect issue cannot be declared the Collective Naga Issue. And a non-Naga issue must never be smuggled into Naga discourse and called Naga. To do so is destructive. It is anti-Naga peoplehood historically, politically, and morally.
To confuse the part with the whole is not only a political error. It is a moral danger.
Nagas’ Diversity
We are Nagas. But we are also Ao, Angami, Chakhesang, Chang, Chiru, Chothe, Inpui, Kharam, Khoirao, Koireng, Kom, Liangmei, Lotha, Mao, Maram, Maring, Monsang, Moyon, Nocte, Phom, Pochury, Poumei, Rengma, Rongmei, Sangtam, Sumi, Tangkhul, Tangsa, Tarao, Thangal, Tikhir, Wancho, Yimkhiungru, Zeliang, and countless others.
We are one people, but we are not one tongue.
Over 89 distinct Naga languages and ethnic dialects are spoken across our ancestral homeland.
This diversity is not a weakness to be cured. It is a design to be honored. It is the fingerprint of God on a people. “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” – Psalm 133:1. “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth” – Acts 17:26.
Unity is not uniformity. Unity is many voices choosing to sing one song. Our many tongues are not a curse like Babel. They are a testimony that we were never meant to be cloned, but to be covenanted.
To reduce the entire Naga nation to the concerns of one group is both a political error and a spiritual injustice.
Non-negotiable Demand
Any collective movement for human development and shared progress must rest on organizational discipline and universal principles.
Organizationally: Accountability, transparency, due process, respect for institutions, and leadership that serves instead of dominates.
Universally: Justice, truth, human dignity, consent, human rights, and democratic norms that apply to all, not just to some.
Without norms, we have chaos. Without universal requirements, we have tyranny disguised as tradition. Without these, we do not have a movement. We have mob rule.
History and Scripture are brutally clear. Only the fascist and the fanatic despise norms. They bypass debate. They bypass law. In their place they use coercive acts, threats, and lies to force compliance. They replace persuasion with intimidation and mistake noise for legitimacy.
That is not Naga governance. That is anti-Naga.
Plight of the Nagas
The Nagas of Manipur carry a unique and heavy burden. We live at the intersection of political neglect, demographic pressure, identity erasure, and internal fragmentation.
In this fragile moment, the greatest danger is internal. When one dialect group tries to speak for all, when one organization claims to be the sole voice, or when a local dispute or non-Naga issue is rebranded as “the Naga Issue,” it does three things:
- It dilutes the moral weight of our real collective struggle.
- It fractures trust between Naga communities and turns shared suffering into political capital.
- It gives outsiders reason to dismiss all Naga voices as chaotic and self-serving.
This wounds us deeply. In the hills and valleys of Manipur, when there is famine, villages do not ask for your dialect before sharing rice. When there is mourning, mothers do not ask for your tribe before they weep with you. Our plight is collective. Therefore our response must be collective.
Retrospectively, we see how exclusion and imposition have weakened us. Introspectively, we must ask with brutal honesty: Have we allowed ego to replace ethic? Have we allowed power to replace principle? Have we allowed one voice to silence eighty-eight others?
Biblical Framework
Scripture gives us the pattern: “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ”- 1 Corinthians 12:12. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you.” The hand cannot declare itself the whole body.
Politically, democracy demands that every tribe, every dialect, every region has a seat at the table. No one speaks for all unless all have spoken.
Socially, we are called to be bridge-builders, not wall-builders.
Nationalistically, true Naga patriotism is inclusive. It gathers. It protects the smallest tribe with the same vigor it protects the largest.
Patriotism without prudence becomes fanaticism. Zeal without knowledge leads to destruction – Proverbs 19:2.
The Path Forward
To the Naga youth, to our elders, to our leaders and organizations:
Let us be vehement for truth, but gentle in tone and never violent in method.
Let us be strong in conviction, but magnificent in humility.
Let us be brilliantly strategic, but deeply moral.
Let us be prayerfully dependent on God, for “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain”- Psalm 127:1.
The Collective Naga Issue demands four things of us:
- Insightful Analysis: Study policy, law, history, and diplomacy. Move beyond slogans to substance.
- Democratic Engagement: 89+ languages means 89+ stakeholders. Every voice must be heard before any decision is made.
- Virtuous Conduct: Reject coercion. Reject threats. Reject lies. Reject the politics of fear. These are the tools of those who have no truth.
- Discerning Boundaries: Do not allow non-Naga issues to be packaged as Naga issues. Protect the integrity of our collective struggle.
Conclusion
We are 89+ rivers flowing into one Naga sea. We are 89+ voices harmonizing one Naga song.
Let no one reduce the Naga nation to one dialect. Let no one hijack the Collective Naga Issue for personal, partisan, or tribal gain. Let no one destroy our peoplehood by confusing our issues with the issues of others.
To the Nagas of Manipur and to Nagas everywhere: Your language matters. Your land matters. Your story matters. Your pain matters. And together, our shared future matters more.
May this generation be remembered as the one that chose norms over noise, unity over uniformity, truth over threats, and love over coercion.
That is how a people survive. That is how a people thrive. That is how the Naga nation will rise — collectively, magnificently, powerfully, and virtuously.
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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)