India is a great republic with an Aryan history stretching three thousand years and a tribal and Dravidian history stretching another 2000 years into the annals of ancient world history. It became a modern Democratic Republic on 26th January, 1950. But prior to this, for more than 200 years, India’s glory and grandeur in world history was trampled under British Colonial rule. Today, after 64 years of self rule, India has once again taken her rightful place as an economic and political giant in modern history. We Nagas also must salute India achievements as it celebrates its 64th Republic day on January 26th, 2014.
However as a Naga, I cannot understand why some Nagas have also been enthusiastically celebrating India’s Republic Day every year in Nagaland for the past 50 years. Do these Nagas have no knowledge about their own Republic day which is March 22, 1956 and had been celebrated every year since 1956? The question that arises in my mind as I ponder this question is: “When the British were ruling in India, did Indians enthusiastically participate in Queen Elizabeth’s birthday celebration which was a national day for the British?” I am sure no Indian citizen who knew their own history and culture ever celebrated the Queen’s birthday with enthusiasm when their country and civilization were under British foreign rule. That thought brings me to the conclusion that the Nagas who have been enthusiastically celebrating India’s Republic day in Nagaland for all these years must have been doing so, because though they are Nagas by blood, they do not know their own Naga history or republic. For the sake of these ignorant Nagas allow me to express a few salient features of our own Naga democratic and republic’s history.
Not to talk of the Indian invasion of our lands in the mid 1950’s, even prior to the advent of the British in 1832, Naga villages had always existed as Sovereign Independent Democratic Republics. This history of sovereign self rule stretches as far back as A.D. 150 in recorded history. In their ancient history, Nagas have never bowed to any king or kingdom in the world. Far from it, even centuries before the advent of the British, our Naga forefathers had intermittently but relentlessly fought our neighboring kingdoms like the Meite Kingdom, the Ahom kingdom and the Tripuri kingdoms right from the 3rd century to the end of the early 19th century. For all these long centuries, our forefathers courageously defended our territories from any external threat or invasion. As for the mighty British Imperial power, our grandfathers fought them from 1832 to 1947. In this period, from 1880 to 1947, the British were able to administer their rule over only 30% of Naga territory for 67 years. The rest defied the British power for 115 years- i.e. 1832-1947. Then from 1947 to the present, we Nagas have been defying the Indian and Burmese invasion of our lands for the past 67 years.
As for the nature of our republics, it was a purest form of democracy where there was no Kings and subjects, no high or low class, but a classless society of equals having equal land ownership rights and also practicing one of the most efficient legal systems in the whole world.
In the light of all these unique political, cultural and legal systems that our traditional republican history has, I just simply cannot understand why some educated Nagas are so enthusiastically celebrating India’s Republic Day in our lands.
Kaka D Iralu
January 25, 2014
