Asserting that it strongly believed in unity for an inclusive and honourable Naga political solution, the Naga Hoho (NH) Friday said that its current leadership was even ready to pave the way if the Nagaland tribes were willing to come back under the banner of Naga Hoho to rebuild and restore the Hoho.
In a press release, NH has fervently appealed to all Naga people, the Naga political groups and leaders to come together for a journey of common hope for “one Nation, and one solution”.
Calling for peace and tranquillity in the Naga homeland this festive season, the NH maintained currently the Nagas seemed to be living in the ‘caged societies’ planted and nurtured by the ideological, organisational, and territorial politico-administrative divides compounded by an overriding loyalty to “our respective ethnic and tribal communities.”
Despite tall proclamation that Nagas were a separate entity, a nation that merits to be left to itself as a sovereign nation-state, the Hoho said Nagas have not been able to transcend those boundaries and the associated world views especially that of “our respective ethnic/tribal groups.”
NH said that the penchant for nurturing an overriding loyalty to “our respective tribes/ethnic groups” based on administrative units, different Naga political groups and organisations has led to the iron caging of the Naga society.
Stating Nagas cannot afford to forget the past blunders and repeat it again, NH said that the choice before the Nagas clearly was to talk to each other and find a common ground to lend support to a position that realistically constitutes “our non-negotiable position” for an inclusive, honourable and acceptable solution.
The Nagas as an entity, NH said was like one body with many parts and each part was equally important for the well-being of all other parts. “If one part suffers, the whole body will be affected,” NH added. It, therefore, said that piecemeal political solutions in the guise of securing constitutional rights without securing a common political future would not heal the land and its people.
Further, NH said that unity was “unquestionably” the desire of every Naga soul, but expressed regret that Nagas have “hypocritically” taken ‘unity’ as synonymous with ‘uniformity’.
NH said it was a body that stood firmly on the foundation of Naga unity, fraternity and historical right.
The Hoho expressed belief that Nagas were ‘one’ and the only way forward was “to settle our differences through dialogue within the Naga family and to be unified in purpose by agreeing to converge at a non-negotiable position for recognition of the identity of the Nagas as embodied in the flag, constitution and integration of the Naga ancestral homeland.”
NH asserted that Naga struggle for freedom as a collective birth right was “binding on all of us” and it should be revered as sacrosanct, bigger and above all the Naga organisations and their leaders. “The time for self-imposed imprisonment from within and without is over,” it said.
Meanwhile, the Hoho has wished everyone a blessed Christmas season and a prosperous New Year 2021.
As year 2020 was coming to an end and Christmas approaching, the NH has appealed to every Naga leader to forgive one another and embrace together with renewed vision so as to face the new challenges with the dawn of New Year. “May God grant us wisdom and understanding and celebrate the best Christmas in our lives,” NH prayed.