Chink in tribal armour

Hornbill Festival 2022 is being celebrated with a mixture of expectation and disappointment against the backdrop of total abstention by all seven tribes of eastern Nagaland or Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) area. That seven tribal cultural troupes are not going to be present nor visible has cast some gloom on the festivities. The ENPO has resolved to abstain in adherence to the October 14,2022 resolution of the Central Executive Council. It is ironic that the very core of the Hornbill- strengthening fraternal bonds among Naga tribes- has been defeated. The Hornbill festival is a government created event launched during 2000 for one day and which after 2003 onwards, extended to seven days and now to 10 days. The event is also held in a government created village- Kisama- which has been nicknamed as the Heritage Village. Leaving aside all the brilliant ideas about event management to “showcase” Naga culture etc and to promote the bonding between tribes; the abstention has indeed hit the ideal on its face. Cultural festivity in Nagaland provides an opportunity for the common people to do some soul searching on the larger aspect of tribal amity. Festivals are symbols of tribal identity and in the light of changes taking place, the objective of preserving the cultural traditions need to expand towards a greater cultural and tribal mosaic. The bond among tribes was strong and resilient in the 50s to the 60s when literacy was around 10 % in 1951 and 21% in 1961. Today, with literacy at 79.55% the family bond is as shaky. Whether the demand for a state carved out of present Nagaland state is logical, acceptable, tangible or tenable is not the issue here; but why has there been little effort from the church, CSOs and especially the government, the latter of who is more known for the famous consultative meetings with all and sundry? The feeling of being shown a step motherly treatment or a raw deal as claimed by the proponent of the demands are very serious issues. First of all, the elected representatives of the entire eastern Nagaland need to explain to their brothers and sisters about what action have they taken or proposed to take, in order to correct the drift of several decades? All leaders ought to understand that their primary duty is to address the issue of economic prosperity of the family at large. When society is faced with a vacuum of thoughts and fail to objectively analyse any given situation, then it would soon lose its essence and give way to pressure groups or groupings that eventually negate the concept of peace and development. Perhaps the recent events have also shown that the showcasing business of promoting culture and fraternal relations have not been properly addressed nor seen beyond the prism of the 10-day event management. One of the suggestions made in Nagaland Post during the recent decades was to hold district level festivals of tribes as and when they occur instead of concentrating only in Kohima and Kisama. The weakness within the family has been ignored and that is why the centrifugal force has struck one blow and if the same environment persists, there could possibly be more in the decades ahead.