Skip to main content

After Kashmir, is Govt of India ready to go back on promise to Nagaland?

By Sandeep Pandey and Meera Sanghamitra*
The Nagas claim that their leader Phizo never signed any instrument of accession with India like the other 562 princely states and Nagaland or Nagalim, as they prefer to call their land, was never part of India either with consent or by conquest. Nagas are proud of their unique history in which they have never been subject to any foreign rule.
It was the British which first made Nagaland part of Assam after a number of violent clashes in which there were casualities on both sides. Nagaland has also witnessed intertribal violence. There are close to forty different tribes with distinct cultural identities. The Nagas had asked British to let them have the freedom to determine their future and the British had also agreed to a concept of limited sovereignty based on traditional idea of self-rule.
Mahatma Gandhi had supported the right of Nagas to determine their destiny and was against Nehru sending Army to conquer it. When India was about to achieve independence Jawaharlal Nehru offered local autonomy to Nagas but they continued to assert their identity as a separate nation. It remained part of Assam after India's independence.
After a violent uprising Indian Army was sent in 1955 and three years later Armed Forces Special Powers Act was promulgated to contain the Naga rebellion among other disturbances in the Northeastern states.
In 1963 Nagaland became a separate state after an agreement of Naga People's Convention with Nehru government which was described by Phizo as a sell out. In 1975 there was a Shillong agreement with Naga National Council.
This was rejected by some. Isak Chisi Swu, Thuingaleng Muivah and SS Khaplng formed National Socialist Council of Nagalim to carry on the struggle for sovereignty. In 1988 there was a split. NSCN (IM) leaders went to Europe and NSCN (K) leader settled in Mayanmar.
Since then Indian Prime Ministers Narsimha Rao, Deve Gowda and Atal Bihari Vajpayee met Isak and Muivah in Paris, Bangkok and Amsterdem, respectively. A process of dialogue has been going on after a ceasefire agreement in 1997. A Framework Agreement was signed on 3rd August, 2015 with the Narendra Modi government.
Interlocuter RN Ravi, now governor of Nagaland, signed on behalf of Government of India and Muivah signed on behalf of Nagas in the presence of PM. Isak signed from a hospital bed. A concept of shared sovereignty and inclusive relationship of enduring peaceful co-existence of the two entities has been agreed to.
NSCN (IM) has worked out in detail the delicate balance of competencies which will define the nature of relationship. They want Nagaland government to cover all Nagas, even living in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam and ultimately hope for integration of all land inhabited by Nagas, their long standing demand.
There will be Naga Regional Councils in these three states. Naga Regional Territorial Councils will have their own legislature, executive and judiciary. The judiciary will comprise both customary law as well as modern. Land and resources above and below will belong to Nagaland. Naga areas are rich in petroleum, natural gas, coal and other minerals.
Presently the Central government just shares less than a fourth of the revenue with states. International relations will be with India except for matters related to Nagaland. Nagaland will have separate foreign offices for culture and education. Nagaland will have its own education system. It will also expect reservation for students from Nagaland in Indian educational institutions. Even with a Christian majority Nagaland would remain a secular state.
Security will be with local government but defence will be shared with Indian Army. They aspire to have separate Anthem, Insignia, Flag and Constitution. Two members will represent Nagaland in Rajya Sabha. Agreement reached will not be altered unilaterally and will require two thirds majority of Indian parliament as well as Nagaland Assembly. Armed Forces Special Powers Act will be revoked and not be imposed by India.
Nagaland is not asking for independence. All they want is an arrangement of shared sovereignty and peaceful coexistence with India
In August 2019 immediately after abrogation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of Indian Constitution, Governor RN Ravi revealed that the PM wanted a final agreement to be signed with Nagas within three months. He wants Nagaland to integrate with India like any other state.
When it was expected that a final accord will be signed soon, the government is trying to bring on board a group of six organisations called Naga National Political Groups which has raised a question on the proposed Constitution of Nagaland. NSCN (IM) leadership considers this as a betrayal.
Thuingaleng Muivah says that in a democracy sovereignty lies with the people, hence sovereignty of Nagas lies with Nagas. He warns that NSCN (IM) has come very close to an honourable solution to peace process with Government of India but if it doesn't materialise then Nagas will go away so far that it'll be difficult to bring them back to the table easily.
Indian government must live up to its commitment to NSCN (IM) with whom it has been in dialogue for 22 years. Nagaland is not asking for independence. All they want is an arrangement of shared sovereignty and peaceful coexistence with India. Muivah asks how can Nagas surrender without any achievement in peace process?
They did not dialogue for 22 years to merely become one of India's states. Granting a separate Constitution and Flag to them will not endanger India's sovereignty in any way. As Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan said it is better to have friendly Nagas on our frontier rather than unfriendly and discontented kept forcibly within India. C Rajagopalachari supported the Naga right to become independent.
---
*Sandeep Pandey is associated with Socialist Party (India) and Meera Sanghamitra with National Alliance of People's Movements. The writers were part of a delegation of 13 social-political activists invited to meet the collective leadership of NSCN (IM) on September 27, 2019 at Camp Hebron, Nagaland. Contacts: e-mail: ashaashram@yahoo.com, meeraengages@gmail.com

Comments

The Real Gems said…
That's very nice blog. and glad to hear about this topic, because of in india the people are interested in they what they want no one intrested who is one man that doing best for our country is Mr. atal bihari. read all about Mr. atal bihari vajpayee here too.
March 24, 2020
Post a Comment

TRENDING

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan  In a groundbreaking  study  spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.
Post a Comment
»

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram  India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.
Post a Comment
»

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.
59 comments
»

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra  Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today. 
Post a Comment
»

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu.  He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat
1 comment
»

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...
Post a Comment
»

Would breaking idols, burning books annihilate caste? Recalling a 1972 Dalit protest

By Rajiv Shah  A few days ago, I received an email alert from a veteran human rights leader who has fought many battles in Gujarat for the Dalit cause — both through ground-level campaigns and courtroom struggles. The alert, sent in Gujarati by Valjibhai Patel, who heads the Council for Social Justice, stated: “In 1935, Babasaheb Ambedkar burnt the Manusmriti . In 1972, we broke the idol of Krishna , whom we regarded as the creator of the varna (caste) system.”
Post a Comment
»

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah  Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.
Post a Comment
»

'Restructuring' Sahitya Akademi: Is the ‘Gujarat model’ reaching Delhi?

By Prakash N. Shah*  ​A fortnight and a few days have slipped past that grim event. It was as if the wedding preparations were complete and the groom’s face was about to be unveiled behind the ceremonial tinsel. At 3 PM on December 18, a press conference was poised to announce the Sahitya Akademi Awards . 
Post a Comment
»