The parliamentary secretary for Geology and Mining, Dr Imtiwapang Aier on Friday said that the “Naga society is fragmenting into pieces because of lack of unity among the Naga family” and thereby called upon the people to dust “ourselves off and begin again to remake Nagas into one family”.
Addressing the second day of the 68th Asetkong Mungdang (Asetkong citizens’ conference) at Longpa village under Mokokchung district as the chief guest, Dr Imtiwapang Aier stated that the “impact of division has created an atmosphere where bad practices, corruption and most importantly poor governance have dominated the society”, fading away the legacy of our Naga forefathers.
He also lamented that instead of bridging the gap between the past and the present, rifting among “us” prevails and has become dangerous for the younger generation. In this connection he appealed the people of the range that “it is the right time to correct the mistakes and reshape for the future”.
“The division within the Naga society might be the result of failure in societal governance, where organization/NGOs have been mushrooming with different ideologies. Naga society has now become a divided society,” Aier stated.
Saying that before independent, India had more than 500 princely states which were merged into one knowing the consequence of a divided house, Dr Aier maintained that Naga society is now in transition stage with no proper direction, where “we” have to start taking responsibility by contributing to be positive and to erase the negativity. “If we cannot bring change today don’t expect to bring change tomorrow by our children. Our children will judge us whether we have built or destroyed our society and will never forgive for our act,” Aier asserted.
Stating that good governance is a global issue and hard to implement hundred percent effectively, Aier also challenged the citizen of Asetkong range to fight for the people and to bring good governance and show an exemplary life to the rest of the Nagas leaving aside clans, range and tribes issues.
Also the main speaker dean of Clark Theological College Aolichen, Rev. Dr. Mar Pongener, spoke on the conference theme “Shilangdi”. He maintained that “shilangdi/return back” should be compared with the past and present to look for a better future.