The Naga Case: In Nano Composition

• With undeserved blessings of the Christian God, Most High; the Naga today has developed their mind-set to one People Group of the world and have most of the requirements of their political history, conditions and rights for a Nation; except a common compact State Territory of their own.
•  
  
• The Naga Tribe is spread over all the four States of the North East India: Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh; and in upper Burma (now Myanmar) adjacent to the length of the State Nagaland of several groups of Naga tribes united today as Tangsha and more areas of other Naga tribes.
•  
  
• In Manipur, some half a dozen Naga tribes form a significant minority population of the State dominated by non-tribal Mongolian Meitei community converted to Hinduism in the previous centuries of the ancient Kingdom of Manipur.
•  
  
• In Assam, a small minority of Zeliang ans Rongmei Nagas inhabit the Silchar and Cachar areas hopelessly dominated by the non-tribal Assamese and very many other peoples.
•  
  
• In Arunachal Pradesh of erstwhile North East Frontier Agency, NEFA, despite one of the first Indian States to adopt India’s “Freedom of Religion” Bill in 1976; the whole one division of four belong to Naga tribes, now vast turning Christian from animism, though forming an even lesser population dominated by diverse other lingual non-Naga populations of the Pradesh.
•  
  
• The three Naga areas in the three States are separate from each other but each is adjacent to Nagaland State, and share land connection with the State of Nagaland, the only State wholly of native Naga State of India.
•  
  
• There are Konyaks, collective Naga tribes of Tangsha, the Khiamniungans, the Makwars, Tikhir and Chirs, both in Nagaland and Myanmar next to each other, and sometime the same native Naga architectural house is divided into two different Nations of India and Burma by an invisible Inter-National boundary line.
•  
  
• The State of Nagaland alone touches all Naga areas of some different States of the Northeast, and even that of Myanmar. Without Nagaland State, the Naga areas of various North-eastern States can never become a compact Naga area; Nagaland State alone forms the lone completely dominant Naga State of India; the other Naga areas are separated from each other in different States without land connection between them and dominated by Non-Naga people.
•  
  
• Providentially, Nagaland State is already a separate Naga State of India with special Constitution provision of Article 371-A of the Constitution of India not available to most other States of India:-
•  
  
•  (1) Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution,
• 
  
•  (a) no Act of Parliament in respect of,
• 
  
•  (i) religious or social practices of the Naga,
• 
  
•  (ii) Naga customary law and procedures,
• 
  
• (iii) Administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Naga customary law,
• 
  
•  (iv) ownership and transfer of land and its resources, shall apply to the State of Nagaland unless the Legislative Assembly of Nagaland by a resolution so decides.
•  
  
• The phrases “notwithstanding anything in this Constitution” and “land and its resources” in the Article 371-A of the Constitution of India are unusual extra-ordinary terms of provisions to the State of Nagaland, not available to other States of India. 
•  
  
• The State of Nagaland and its Native indigenous people have historical, cultural, racial pre-requisite rights and conditions of an independent people India knows in its own heart. The Nagas didn’t and don’t form integral part of India racially, culturally or historically and didn’t participate in the history of Indian civilisation. From pre-India Independent times, Naga Hills never formed integral part of other kingdoms; it did not participated in any of the movements of Mahatma Gandhi for Indian Independence. The Nagas today are citizens of the democratic Republic of India, but they are not Hindu Indian; they are simply Naga Tribe.
•  
  
• The Treaty of Yandabo Feb. 24, 1826 with Supplementary Treaties for Assam and Manipur did not include the Naga country and Arunachal Pradesh (erstwhile Northeast Frontier Agency). The Naga Hills was formed only in 1847 from ‘Naga Country’ and the Naga area of Arunachal also, never before, formed part of the history of Indian Civilisation. Unlike other peoples; and customarily being not under any Raja or Princely State, the Naga Hills had never entered into “any Treaty Engagements with the British.” [Treaties, Agreements & Sanads of the British], the Naga Hills formed a “completely Excluded Area”, not “partly excluded” from the Legislative Assembly of Assam, in the re-organization of India Act 1935.
•  
  
• The Naga Country formed the ‘Naga Hills’ and as early as 1873, the ‘Inner line Regulation of Bengal 1873’ prohibited entry into the Naga Hills of any outsiders without an “Inner line” Permit from the colonial Government. This Regulation is still valid in Nagaland State today and testifies the area’s separateness from other areas of India.
•  
  
• As far back as 1924, Mahatma Gandhi, insisted for a Constitution of India written by Indians alone, not by people from ‘Outside’, and Naga Hills on January 10 1929 submitted a written Memorandum to the Simon Commission that visited Kohima, demanding ‘Naga Hills be left alone as it was before the white man came to our land’ and that they never asked for any Reformation.
•  
  
• The Governor of Assam with full plenipotentiary powers, representing the President of India and on assurance given by the Naga National Council leaders that the Naga would not join Pakistan, on a meeting held at Kohima in early 1947, entered into a 9-Point Agreement with Naga National Council, NNC, for a period of 10 years, after which the Naga would be free to decide their future themselves.
•  
  
• Shortly after, rumours reached the Nagas that India wouldn’t follow the Agreement. Therefore on August 14, 1947, the Naga National Council sent Telegrams to India not to consider the Naga Hills included in the Indian Union unless the 9-Point is followed completely to the Letter, and refused to participate in the Constitution Assembly. Three years after, on 16th May 1951, the NNC conducted a peaceful Plebiscite in which the Naga overwhelmingly opted for life outside Indian Union.
•  
  
• Independent India conducted its first General Election in early spring of 1952; the Naga Hills completely boycotted the Election; this writer, perhaps the last surviving Polling Assistant of that Election at Cheswezouma Dak Bungalow Polling Station, poignantly remembers: not a single person steered in the village that day; not a single dog barked; not a single cock crowed; the silence of that day seemed even to have weight!  
•  
  
• The NNC 9-Point Agreement between Sir Akbar Hyder Ali Governor of Assam, Premier Gopinath Bordoloi of Assam and Naga National Council in 1947, has the merger of Adjacent Naga areas in other areas with Naga Hills included, but ultimately GoI did not implement it. The Negotiating Body of Naga Peoples Convention in 1960, in its 16-Point proposal for Agreement included the 9-Point Integration demand; Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru agreed inclusion of Tuensang-Mon area of North Eastern Frontier Agency, NEFA to Nagaland and form NAGA HILLS-TUENSANG AREA, NHTA, an Administrative Unit, but expressed difficulties for inclusion of Adjacent Naga Areas in Assam and in Manipur to Nagaland.  
•  
  
• Yet, GoI bifurcated oversized, over populated half a dozen big Indian States, to form Tribal States of CHHATTISGARH and JHARKHAND States on demand of the Tribal and in consent to all the involved States.
•  
  
• India has a very big population of ancient tribes in the vast Central India region of poorly educated, under-developed SCHEDULED TRIBES. The tribes are spread over more than half a dozen States: Madhya Pradesh in the West to Bengal in the East; Maharashtra, Karnataka in the South through Odisha, Bihar to Uttar Pradesh in the North, numbering more than 8,59,00,000. They demanded separation from the advanced areas in the States to one of their own in their own land.
•  
  
• The States being bifurcated raised no objections to the bifurcations; many educated Indian citizens even expressed the need for bifurcation of the overpopulated oversized States like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh etc., each of which even were bigger and more populous than quite a few European nations put together.
•  
  
• The Government of India, out of necessity, separated the tribal area into new states of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand for faster and more progressiveness development of the area and the people.
•  
  
• Today, it is unlikely GoI would cut out the Naga areas from Manipur, Assam and Arunachal of the Northeast India and merge them with Nagaland State without the consent of Nagas of those states demanding the merger and those opposing; the Chief Minister of the states have made strong opposition to the proposal and declared not an inch of their state lands would be given to Nagaland; Nagaland Assembly has passed resolution four times for the ‘integration’.
•  
  
• On the attainment of Naga Hills into the 16th State of India, Chief Minister Shilu Ao personally sent Chiten Jamir, one of his ministers to Imphal to find out whether the Naga of Manipur would like to be in Nagaland or not. The Chief Commissioner of Manipur then, Mr. BL Kampani, gathered the leaders of Manipur Naga in Ukhrul in a Meeting and discussed the issue; the Naga leaders of Manipur declined to be with Nagaland and that they would prefer to stay in Manipur.
•  
  
• The Assembly of Nagaland passed resolutions four separate times for integration of Naga areas adjacent to its State be integrated with Nagaland but GoI did not take any action and the Naga of Manipur did not take the subject in seriousness.     
•  
  
• Neither the NSCN(IM) Framework Agreement with Prime Minister Modi, through his personally appointed Interlocutor Governor RN Ravi of Nagaland, has mentioned about the Integration Issue nor the NNPG’s in their 17 November 2017 ‘Agreed Position’ with the GoI has mentioned the subject.
•  
  
• Therefore, in the case of the Nagas today, the GoI is unlikely to do what it has not during the time of the formation of the State of Nagaland with “Special Constitution provisions”.
•  
  
• Today, the majority of the civil population of Nagas have lost their respect and confidence with the Naga National Groups because of their prolonged many undesirable actions on the civilian Nagas and non-Naga citizens of the State almost everywhere, any time. The NSCN with their superior arms have not done much of anything to enhance the dignity and honour; they degraded the Naga value of sanctity of life, friend or foe of the Naga. The Nagas have customary magnanimity of pardon of even the enemy much before the idea came to them with the Gospel of Jesus: No National Worker or Leader degrading the value of honour of the Naga people can ever hope the support at grassroot level.    
•  
  
• The GoI would not compel the State with non-Naga majority population to consent to the demands of the minority Naga population in the State, unless the law of democracy supports the demand: The position of the GoI on this is understandable and fair.
•  
  
• The GoI knows the Nagas of Nagaland would not share their special constitutional provisions with Nagas of outside and it is not possible for the Nagas of outside to bring their land for merger with Nagaland. Thus India is not unhappy with the status quo!
•  
  
• Nagaland has not prevented Nagas of outside to come to the State and hence Nagas of outside with arms easily could come and could do unlawful activities in Nagaland; it is unfortunate the GoI has made Ceasefire Agreements increasingly with 26 armed groups so far! This is the reason why the Nagas of Nagaland suspect the intensions of GoI. The people look at the GoI’s lavish grants and its VIP’s frequent visit to Nagaland.
•  
  
• There appears no innovative alternative in the Naga National Political Groups today to ever change the value system of the Naga movement; it still is stuck under the dome of Indian mind set, not on Naga mind set of stand for truth. In this state, it may take them more time than China to become democratic, or India to eliminate the Naxalites, who 60 years ago, in 1965, started their struggle for their land in the forest of a small village in Naxalbari in Darjeeling district of West Bengal; and today, at every election victory, the Minister-in-waiting in Delhi, solemnly promises to eliminate the Naxalites completely from India the following year, which never comes!
•  
  
• Thepfulhouvi Solo, IFS,
• Former Principal Secretary, Nagaland.