As the curtain soon comes down on 2018, the 100th year of the formation of Naga Club, we are gathered here on this historic spot to bring to a close the celebration programme of the centenary by thanking God for His abiding goodness to us down the past centuries and praying to Him for His merciful guidance, grace of rebirth of unity and renewal of strength for the challenges the coming generations of Nagas will meet in the future years. It is my privileged duty on this occasion to also acknowledge with deepest appreciation the most generous contributions and prayers received by the Naga Club from many concerned individuals and institutions which covered the costs of the functions of the celebration. Their giving and prayers reveal their conviction and vision for the Naga people at this critical time of confusion. Without conviction and vision human aspirations remain as emotional slogans only that merely create problems.
Today we are grateful to our Almighty God for granting clarity of thought with integrity and strong moral courage to our forefathers, which enabled them to defend the illustrious and distinguished political history of the Nagas till date since centuries ago. The British came to the Naga country in 1832. Wherever they went, they treated the homeland of the Nagas as “No Man’s Land” as they had done elsewhere to expand their Empire, their arrogant transgression was furiously resisted by the Nagas. The uncoordinated, intermittent but always spontaneous and vigorous fights that various villages and tribes put up to defend their land and their honour for five decades culminated in a “No More Fight Agreement”, at Mezoma on 27th March 1880 according to our own Naga customary norms and practices, which welcomed the British to settle in our land as a friendly nation.
The Agreement was made as under: A circle was drawn on the ground at Mezoma, the Naga and British representatives got inside the circle and a cat was produced. The British held the body and the Naga representative held the head, then the cat was sliced into two pieces from the neck to signify that absolute peace, friendliness and harmony were to be maintained and any party treacherous to the other would face the same fate. The Naga representative who held the head of the cat had signified our Naga upper hand position in the Agreement as per our customs and practices. However, many years later, without our knowledge, this was unilaterally interpreted by the British in their own favour as the western Nagas becoming a part of the eastern edge of the British Empire in India.
As such, subsequently, the Nagas re-affirmed their stance in writing in the form of a memorandum and declared for all the Nagas at the right time as “leave us alone to determine for ourselves” was made before the British Statutory Commission, popularly known as Simon Commission, in 1929 by the Naga Club. It means to say that the British were to “leave us alone for sovereignty” as and when their departure from their South Asian colonies took place. Our distinguished history witnessed and experienced many twists and turns; and is characterized by lengthy durations of war and violence. Although we have suffered subjugation by vastly superior powers outside in our modern history, we can justly be proud that our forefathers did not hand down to us a “legacy of defeated story” without severest defiant defence of our history and honour as a people and a nation. Praise be to the Lord, Most High God. “Our Minds and our Naga National Soul” have never been colonised at any point of time till date. It is the solemn responsibility of every Naga generation to preserve the integrity of this legacy.
‘Leave us alone’ for sovereignty as declared by the Naga Club in 1929 is thus considered the most important written public document for our unique political history. The Naga National Council (NNC) correctly read the legal, political, historical meaning of the stand our pioneers had established. Accordingly, 18 years later on August 14, 1947, the Nagas led by the NNC re-affirmed the same stance by declaring their independence. For the sake of further clarification as the situation demanded, the famous plebiscite in 1951 was conducted. The total boycott by the Nagas of the first Indian General Election, soon after matched by the massive Naga resistance against the extremely violent and oppressive military operations launched by the Indian Army to snuff out the Naga struggle, abundantly demonstrated that the Nagas meant what they had declared to be their national position made before Simon Commission.
Nagas were treated as non-Indian and their territory was not considered to be a part of British India Empire under the Naga Hills Excluded Area Act of 1935 to be made a colony under the Queen of England, which was unanimously rejected by our forefathers taking a stand consistent with the cause of “leave us alone” for sovereignty. The proposed “Nine Point Agreement”also known as “Naga-Akbar Hydari Accord”, discussed on 26th, 27th and 28th June, 1947 at Kohima was also flatly rejected on the same ground of “leave us alone” for sovereignty by the Naga National Council (NNC).
Shillong Accord of 1975 signed by “Representatives of Underground Organisations (RUO)”carried the signatures of a few veterans of the Naga struggle. LP Singh, representing Delhi did not mention the word ‘Naga’ to go with the names of the RUO signatories. He also probably was convinced at heart that this “Illegal Organisation” can never represent the Nagas. The vast majority of the Nagas immediately reacted against it as the discussion of the Accord was to take place within the framework of the Indian constitution which the said veterans had been made to sign under duress. The public call for rejection of the Accord thus started as soon as it was brought to Nagaland and made known to the Naga public. As such, no discussion ever took place between Delhi and the RUO signatories. The sad reality was that too many of the colleagues of the signatories and followers were assassinated, publicly condemned as traitors who sold out their own sovereignty. Such compromising of “sovereignty and bloodshed” should never be repeated at any cost.
History of Shillong Accord is exclusively about the few “accordists”. It will go down in history as an untenable Accord achieved by India by force under circumstances of duress and as such rejected as politically meaningless by the vast majority of the Naga people. The so called “Sixteen Point Agreement” made by an instantly formed NGO; the “Revolutionary Govt of Nagaland” that was launched and dissolved in a manner that raised questions or RUO without mandate; all these cannot and shall not change the status of our Naga nation. No “Underground Organisations” or “Illegal Organisation”, as aforesaid, can represent a nation or a people under any circumstances anywhere in the world. The Governor L P Singh, was supposed to be the protector of law and know the meaning of the Accord before blindly entering into an Accord with the so called Illegal Organisation aforesaid. The Accord as per New Webster’s Dictionary means; “a formal act of agreement between Governments; harmony of minds; as, to do a thing with one accord”. Does this mean that the Govt of India accorded recognition to the Govt of the so called Illegal /Underground Organisation, that their entering into an Accord has constitutional authority to make an Accord between themselves and the Govt of RUO in harmony of their minds in one accord, so as to say that the highly condemnable action of L P Singh does not warrant any treasonous action(s)? These are Delhi’s problems and not ours.
Nagas are clear and justly proud that their struggle was not an act of secession, that unlawfully or treasonously violated some solemn agreement or undertaking made by them to be a part of the new independent India at any time. Nor was it an anti- India reaction as they were acting on the basis of unquestionable facts of their history and their right to choose their own future as a good neighbour of India as justified by the facts of their history. We are grateful today that we have such an illustrious political history we can be justly proud of, and a struggle whose legal and political validities are unchangeable.
However, the Naga Club would not be such an important institution as it is today had it not made its declaration of sovereignty before the British Statutory Commission in 1929 and, the declaration before the British Statutory Commission also would not have “so much value” had we not firmly stood on the declaration as has been done till date. Therefore, the Nagas who gave their lives to the cause of “leave us alone” were the ones who made the greatest sacrifice for our unique political history for the general interest and welfare of Naga people as a whole and they shall always be remembered in our hearts at all times through this proposed Naga National Cemetery at Jotsoma, a site proposed in memory of Zasibito Nagi, the 1st martyr of Naga Political Movement.
“This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord” to have more than sufficient water without rain, says the Lord; II Kings 3:18 of the Bible. I trust that we shall receive this promise of God to have abundant water, blessings and miracles without much rain and bloodshed from now on in our political journey to achieve our goal in a miracle which is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord, if we only believe and stay committed to His words with integrity and obey without complaints.
Naga Club Thanksgiving Day Speech by Kuolachalie Seyie on 15.12.2018 at Base Camp, Pulie Badze, Jotsoma, Nagaland.
