Wungreiyon Moinao
IN 1955 Pete Seeger wrote the famous song ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone?’ expressing disdain for war. The song is cyclical in nature expressing the futility and the unending cycle of war. It opens with a simple question “Where have all the flowers gone?” And comes the answer- they are all picked up by the young girls. What do the girls do with the flowers? The girls have given them to their loved ones. Where have the boys gone? They have gone to fight in a war and to return home only to be buried in a graveyard. And where have the graveyards gone? From the graveyard blooms the beautiful flowers to be plucked again by the next generation of girls for their loved ones. The hard-hitting line in the song is the refrain “When will they learn, when will they ever learn?” that pokes fun at the naivety or ignorance of the young girls and the society.
Article | STDCM approach of pressurising the state government smacks of trickery
Listening to this song I cannot help but ask myself the question- where have all the Tangkhul MLAs gone? For the first time in the history of the Tangkhuls, the community has uniformly elected three MLAs from the same political party that purportedly strive for the rights and identity of the people. The election result was celebrated with much fanfare, marching and singing gospel hymns. The sane and the lunatic alike proudly proclaim that their visions have finally come true- a vision of unabashed roosters crowing in the hills of the Tangkhul. The Roosters were elected affirming “To work and assist in any possible manner on any approach for a peaceful solution of the Indo-Naga political issue, thereby moving towards a renaissance of Naga brotherhood by making constant appeal to Naga conscience within and without (Article II, Clause 2(a) of the party Constitution).”
Where have they all gone today? Are our lives any better now that the Roosters are here? Yet here we are walking on the same dusty roads, gazing at the same debilitated educational and medical facilities and lacking all other basic amenities to have a decent life. And our rights and identity waning away each passing day. Are the Roosters really crowing or are they kept shut inside their respective coops with their muffled voices? Or have the Roosters turn out to be shams or have we failed to identify the right Rooster?
We have often been swayed and beguiled by simple political gimmicks of the establishment.
About The Author
