Imphal: Refugees, nomadic people and immigrants do not have politics of their own. They may be granted members of a political community or citizenship of a country. But launching a political movement by refugees or immigrants for a separate homeland in other people’s country is an act of aggression on the native people and their land, the Naga insurgent group NSCN-IM said.
Claiming citizenship of a country with forgery documents is a crime against the state. Planting foreign populations in an occupied territory for marginalising the native people is equally an act of colonialism and expansionism that should be condemned, Rh. Raising, Member, Collective Leadership of the insurgent outfit said, in a statement on Thursday.
He said land and water are the foundations of history and politics of a people and their sovereign nation-states. All the village-states, the city-states and nation-states of the peoples and nations were built on the foundation of their respective lands. A national territory and water are the arch-pillars of a nation-state.
As people and land are inseparable so also people and water are. We know people do not hesitate even to sacrifice their lives for their country when it is challenged by the aggressors. Sacrificing life for one’s own country is an adored nationalism. All wars in history were fought over land and water, he added.
The first and the second world wars were fought among the imperialist powers over the land and water of other nations with colonial motives. But ultimately, they faced crushing defeats in the hands of the revolutionary nationalist forces of the native peoples. The policy of expansionism and colonialism is a thing of the past already condemned and buried by the world today. And that any state or country that tries to exhume the corpse of colonialism will certainly face the judgement of history, the Naga leader said.
We cannot imagine creating a nation-state without land. The history of a people or a nation is naturally rooted in their land. Land is the foundation of a state. The politics of a people is founded in the solid ground of land and history. Politics is naturally about the creation of a nation-state, governance of a state, protection of a state, defending the right and freedom of a people, the statement said.
Raising said the Naga people have their own land to belong. And this Nagalim is their portion of land from the Lord. Nagalim is home to millions of Nagas, who have been living here for thousands of years and they will continue to live here for thousands more years to come. We were born here, we will live here and we will die here. Our land and water are integral parts of our nationhood.
But the proven fact is that hundreds of uncommitted workers deserted the cause when the storms came, but the revolutionary Naga people stayed the course. The collaborators joined the enemy forces to exterminate the patriots, but they survived by His grace. Some organizations betrayed the cause, but the revolutionary Naga people stood the ground. Faithless people wavered and looked back, but those who trust in the Lord keep moving with determination and faith. The presence of the Lord has been with the Nagas since day one because it is the ‘Lord’s battle.’
The Nagas cannot part with the issue of ‘Nagalim for Christ’ because the future of the Nagas lies in it. The history, the politics, the kingdom and everything of the Nagas are in it. We must uphold it at all costs and in all weathers. We must solve the problem. We cannot afford to make mistakes at the negotiating table. If we make mistakes, everything will fall. If the issue is murdered, our land will be possessed by the aggressors; our people will become their subjects and our children will be assimilated. The invaders will rewrite our history. Our identity and culture, our songs and language, our geography and political concept and our laws will be totally changed. The good name of the Naga nation will be deleted from the pages of history if we do not stand firm.
The prolonged negotiations and delayed solution has a negative impact on the psychology of the weaker sections of the Nagas. It is known to all that the Government of India is deliberately playing attrition politics vis-a-vis the Indo-Naga peace process. We must not succumb to its diabolic policy. But our people sitting on the fence are very judgemental. They used to praise the works of the aggressors, but they are blind to the achievements of their own people. It is good to know – who are our people and who are our enemies; who are on our side and who are on the side of the enemies.
