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Our Correspondent
Kohima, Oct. 21 (EMN): President of the Naga People’s Front (NPF), Dr. Shurhozelie Liezietsu on Wednesday said the party was founded not by choice but out of necessity for the interest of the Nagas and the future.
He was addressing the 58th Foundation Day of the party at its central office in Kohima.
The president reminded the participants that the party got registered with the Election Commission of India (ECI) on November 29, 1963 within 39 days after the formation of the party and on December 2, 1963 the party symbol ‘Cock’ was allotted.
Dwelling on the uniqueness of the Naga history and its significances, he maintained that the first written record of the Naga political history was the representation submitted to the Simon Commission on January 10, 1929, with the demand to withdraw the Naga areas under the British domain, and ‘to leave us (Nagas) alone’ to determine their own future.
He added that the Nagas had then subsequently declared its independence on August 14, 1947, a day ahead of India’s independence, which was informed to the general secretary of the United Nations. “It was received and acknowledged,” he said.
Liezietsu stated that the Naga Voluntary Plebiscite was held on May 16, 1951 at Khouchiezhie in Kohima to strengthen its movement. He added that India’s first general election was announced in 1952 but the Nagas decided not to participate in Indian elections and boycotted the same, saying that ‘Nagas were not Indians’.
He recalled how Nagas anxiously waited for the visit of India’s first prime minister to Kohima on March 30, 1953 with the hope that they would get an opportunity to place their grievances before him, to redress the sufferings meted out to them by the Assam Police.
“On a windy day many Nagas gathered at Kohima local ground waiting for Nehru’s arrival wherein the elders on warrior’s costume were to hand over a representation to Nehru but things didn’t work out as expected with the announcement made by the Deputy Commissioner of Kohima, Borkataki that Nagas could listen to Nehru but they could not speak to him or submit a representation to him,” he shared.
He informed that Nehru, after his return to Delhi, ‘took punitive actions against the innocent population and suppressed the political movement of the Nagas, which resulted in the outbreak of violence in Nagaland with atrocities meted out by the India Army and massacre’.
Liezietsu also recalled the circumstances that led to the formation of the Naga People’s Convention (NPC) due to the outbreak of violence in Nagaland in the later part of 1953, which had prompted the Naga leaders to have consultations with one another to save the situation and met on August 22, 1957 at Kohima.
He reiterated that Indian government at its Parliament in 1958 in April imposed the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) regulations which the ‘president of India promulgated the Act to perpetuate Army Rule in the Naga Hills Tuensang Area (NHTA) in Kohima and Mokokchung district’.
He said the Act was at first passed for a year in the two districts but was never withdrawn and kept on extending till date.
The NPF party chief stated how the ‘16 point-memorandum’ was signed in 1960. “When the agreement was signed the people were expecting bloodshed to stop but the 16-Point Agreement failed to stop the bloodshed in Nagaland, rather it escalated the situation,” he said.
He recalled how circumstances led to the floating of a political party called “Democratic Party of Nagaland” under the chairmanship of A Kevichusa in 1963 which contested in the general election conducted in the following year.
Meanwhile, the party president informed that the election to the 14-Southern Angami-I assembly constituency would be a ‘triangular contest’.
“In politics, the situation keeps changing so we don’t want to speak highly of our position,” he said, adding that none applied for the NPF party ticket in the 60-Pungro-Kiphire assembly constituency, although five candidates are in the fray for the seat.
Informing that the party has not taken its decision on who to support, he said: “We still have time, we will think over.”
Earlier, the secretary general of NPF, Achumbemo Kikon, in his introductory remark, said that the ‘Cock’ party had changed its nomenclature seven times, from Democratic Party of Nagalan’ to the present NPF; and had produced seven chief ministers of the state.
Kikon said the party was formed with certain objectives and its foremost objective is to help resolve the Naga political issue. He added that the party is committed to its principles that have stood firm ‘even the test of time’.