The Citizenship Amendment Bill of 2019 is an Act of law passed by the Indian Parliament to give Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who had fled to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh in previous years. But in this context, as for any Naga Christians fleeing from Pakistan into Indian Territory, the matter does not exist at all. This is because Nagas have never lived as Christians or animists in Pakistan or any of these neighbouring countries at any time. As for Naga Hindus, Buddhist, Sikhs, Jains or Parsis fleeing into India from Pakistan or anywhere else, the matter is again an absurdity as there has never been any Naga Hindu or Parsi etc in the records of any Asian or world history.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill of 2019 is therefore, an Indian government bill that has nothing to do with any independent Naga who is standing firmly on the foundations of Naga political history geography and rights. This is also precisely why the Naga National Council (NNC) raised the Naga flag on 14th August 1947 and Nagas also did not participate in the first and second Indian General Elections in 1952 and 1957. These actions were undertaken by the NNC in order to safeguard Naga national identity and territory. Let these facts remain very clear in every Naga conscience that, in as much as we are not Indians, we also neither belonged to any Indian religion like Hinduism or any of its multifarious offshoots like Sikhism, Jainism or any other religions like Buddhism or Parsi. However if any Nagas compromises on these historical facts, then they will find themselves entangled (or even get lost), in the affairs of a foreign country like India.
Kaka D Iralu
