Nagas' Wait for Godot

For more than 60 years now Nagas have been waiting for Sovereignty as it would come tomorrow. The first generation passed on 'waiting'. Will this generation also pass on 'waiting'? The uncertainty is deadening. While this wait continues I'm forced to see an uncanny resemblance of the Naga situation with that of two tramps in Samuel Beckett's most famous play Waiting for Godot. In the play two tramps waits for somebody called Godot whom they have never met nor are they sure of why they are waiting for him. So, while they wait, they decided to play some games and talk some nonsense to pass their time. At the end of each act (the play has two acts), a boy comes to announce that Mr. Godot will not be able to come that day but will certainly come tomorrow. Categorized as a “tragi-comedy”, the play has elements of both tragic and comic blended together very well. While the audience would laugh at the actions of the two men on the stage do all the funny things, the use of language perforce the underlying meaning of the helplessness of tramps to improve their predicament. The only consolation for them was the hope that Mr. Godot's arrival will certainly bring the end to the suffering of their wait. But waiting can be miserable.

Just like the two tramps the Nagas have also being 'waiting'. Another sunrise, another full-moon, another season, another year. Will Naga's Mr. Godot ever come? Just recently, somebody I know traveled to some villages in the Naga areas for a research project and told me how old people in the villages are still waiting for 'Naga independence' to come anytime soon. What a life! What a tragedy! It is still the ones who are too little educated and living in the remote villages that are easily beguiled. Simple as they are they believe anything told them. When I was growing up many years back, I also had the same dream, like most Nagas. But then, everything has changed. Who is to blame? That's a difficult question. While the Nagas love to blame India for all the mess (of course, India has contributed to it in many ways), can we turn a blind eye to what we've done to each other? The irony is, since the announcement of ceasefire with the UG groups the Naga public has been waiting for a big announcement. Every year there's always a teaser to keep the game going. And the boy (read the interlocutor) comes to announce the deal has been delayed for some reason. And the ceasefire gets extended. The people kept hoping for another year to see a better day. How many years must the lie be told? How many more Nagas must die waiting for freedom? Only Mr. Godot knows!

As it now stands, one group has severed the ceasefire with the GOI, another is still hanging on but only on a thread. But this one is likely to hang on, because the lost will be too much on their part, not so much the larger Naga public. Yes, the ceasefire brought some respite for the tired Naga commoners, tired of being caught in the crossfire. But the bigger beneficiary of the ceasefire has been the UGs themselves. Look at what they've become since the ceasefire - business tycoons, lakhpatis/crorepatis, etc. who drives the fanciest vehicles, lives in mansions, has stakes in the biggest businesses, gotten high paying 'Indian' government services for their relatives, gadgets and guns swung around their shoulders. To break the ceasefire and give up all that? No, they will certainly not end the ceasefire with GOI. Who would want to give up such luxuries? They already have their 'freedom', who cares about others. Have Naga leaders finally playing into the hands of some Indian bureaucrats who wants a whimpering end to the Naga problem? That's a million dollar question. Nagas are the tramps whose seriousness is a comedy for a larger audience.

They deal is closing in, they said. But mind you that's just he voice of the boy announcing that Mr. Godot will come the next day for sure. Is there anything left to deal with, anyway? Sovereignty, Greater Nagalim, Alternative Arrangement, Autonomy, etc. are all phased out from the vocabulary of 'the struggle'. The only deal left, perhaps, is to request the GOI to let them (UGs) enjoy the status they have now once 'the solution' is brokered. Meanwhile, the rest of the people keeps waiting for Godot. Will he ever come?

Published in Morung Express, 5 July (Sunday), 2015 
http://morungexpress.com/nagas-wait-for-godot/