Election has undermined the moral principle of Naga people

Naga elder Niketu Iralu reflects on 2023 Nagaland polls

Mongsentong Longkumer
Dimapur | March 11

As the dust has settled over the 2023 Nagaland State Assembly Elections, the people are once again faced with a likely opposition-less government for the second time in a row. Members of several political parties have pledged to support the ruling government, including the Nationalist Congress Party, Janata Dal (United), Republican Party of India (RPI), National People’s Party (NPP), Naga Peoples Front (NPF) and independents.

Reflecting on the entire election process, questions of whether it was at all “free and fair” comes to mind as evidence of the usage of money; muscle power and violence were visible across news outlets and social media. “This election has revealed the truth about the Naga people,” Niketu Iralu, eminent peace activist, said with regard to the undermining of moral principles and that “it has become the monster that can swallow us.” 

Speaking exclusively to The Morung Express at his residence at Sechü Zübza, Kohima, Iralu contemplated as to whether Nagaland was sleep walking into a future rife with chaos and confusion brought on by the actions of the people themselves.

On this note he viewed that, time is at hand for the need to reflect on where we have gone wrong, starting from the family and the inter-personal relationships of each individual.

On Tuesday, March 7 the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected NDPP-BJP government took place at Capital Cultural Hall, Kohima. In a symbolic gesture, the event was held in the presence of Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi and Neiphiu Rio was sworn in as the Chief Minister for the fifth time, making him Nagaland’s longest serving CM thus far.

Being an octogenarian, Iralu had witnessed the creation of Nagaland state, born out of the circumstances of the Naga struggle in 1963. But he regretted the direction in which it has come today stating that, “We have misused it.”

Re-examining the footsteps of the Nagas, Iralu explained that as a people, “We’ve just emerged in modern history… our exposure to it started barely 200 years ago.” This was in regards to the contact with the British Empire in the Naga Hills during the 19th century. 

“We have too many changes taking place which we have not been able to handle properly,” he said, in addition to running a government and the different machineries involved under a democratic setup unfamiliar to an individual who had only recently moved out of the confines of simple village life. 

“So we have to know ourselves and where we stand,” he reckoned.

This included acknowledging that one’s loyalty towards clan, village or range is also driving the political dynamics of the state at times at the detriment of the entire society. “So we are very near our village fire places… nothing wrong with that but we should realise its aspect and accept the truth,” he added.

“It has become too easy to blame the politicians; all of us have created a society where our elected representatives are only thinking about the next elections. Nobody is thinking about the growth of our society,” Iralu remarked.

Moreover, in his opinion, values such as honesty, trust and a mutual understanding of each one’s weaknesses have been disregarded for short-term gains. Selfishness, treachery and jealousy over one other have become the mode of discourse today.

“We have been destroyed by what we want for ourselves and not for others. So we must first start by being honest that you and I are part of the problem,” he said, further adding, “I think we have to bring the issue down to ourselves now. A slow and gradual process nonetheless, but one which is urgently required to repair the existing divisions.”

At the same time, with Nagaland state being pre-dominantly Christian, Iralu put forward the element of understanding Christianity as being wrong and narrow in the Naga context, implying that the Biblical ethos of salvation and the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ has been substituted for instant gratification without earning the right to it. 

“I think the Nagas love to do the right thing but the problem is we tend to do it our way and not God’s way,” he said. For which the human element needs to change and improve, he said. Be it the church, bureaucracy, NGOs, these qualities of the human element decides the growth of the society. “Without mutual trust and good will just elections will not develop our society,” he noted. 

Unless these factors are revamped and rebuilt from the ground, Iralu cautioned that money will continue to drive the people towards permanent destruction and violence in the foreseeable future. 

“Our society will get worse eventually ending in uncontrollable violence…and we’re very near to that,” he said.