Kuknalim, Naga Armed Resistance: Testimonies of Leaders, Pastors, Healers and Soldiers

Acknowledgements

Preface

The Story of This Book

If you have come

To help me

You are wasting

Your time,

But

If you have come

Because

Your liberation

Is bound up

With mine

Then let us work together.

– Lila Watson, Australian Aboriginal

The idea of writing a book on the Naga national movement based on extensive interviews with the leaders came to us some time after the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) signed a ceasefire agreement with the Government of India in August 1997 and began the peace process.

Before the ceasefire it would not have been possible for human rights activists like us to meet senior leaders of an underground organization.

At the beginning of the peace process there were great expectations that the Indo-Naga conflict would finally be resolved, and that resolution would lead to peace and prosperity for the Nagas and the rest of the country. We thought it was the appropriate time to write a book on the Naga national movement, to help in creating better understanding between the Nagas and the rest of the country.

We approached Thuingaleng Muivah and Isak Swu with the idea and they were open to it. Our interviews took place in 1998 and 1999, but we could not publish this book till now.

It seemed that our interviews were outdated and irrelevant, as was the original purpose for which we began our project. The interviews do not deal with the period beyond the establishment of the NSCN in 1980 and its split in 1988.

But on reading the interviews again, we realized that the stories that had been told are compelling and need to be told, otherwise a significant part of the history of the Naga national movement would be lost. We have given the political context of the movement and an update of subsequent events in the first chapter; there are also introductions to each section respectively.

In this book, leaders and members from ten Naga tribes in India and Myanmar, men and women belonging to two generations, speak directly to the reader about their childhood experiences, reasons for joining the armed resistance and their personal triumphs and tragedies.

These stories are about how men and women living in remote mountains decided to shape their own destiny, against all political odds, by sheer power of their collective will, courage, determination and audacity.

It does not matter whether we agree with or strongly disagree with the men and women who took up arms against the might of the Indian State; the significant fact is that successive Prime Ministers of India, from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi, felt the need to personally meet the Naga leaders and sit across the table for peace talks. In part, this was dictated by the geo-political significance of the North East region and the international interest taken by various states, including Britain, America, China and Pakistan.

Even as the peace talks continue, the Naga insurgents continue to run a parallel government with legislative, judicial and executive wings; they continue to collect taxes and settle cases. And they continue to recruit for their Naga Army while they sit across the table and negotiate a settlement which they hope will be honourable and just.

Can there be an honourable solution? This is a question not only for the Naga leaders, but a challenge also for Indian democracy.

CHAPTER ONE

The Naga People, Their Land and The Movement

They call us primitive,

civilized us in the name of Christianity.

They measured our skulls and stole our bones

Leaving spirits shrieking from cold collector’ shelves

and lonely museums.

They trespassed and violated our Sacred Sites.

Their learning killed our song, our story, our dance, our voice,

our dignity, our humanity—all.

Our Mother’s teaching.

– Jeanine Leane (Aboriginal poet)

They languish, these uprooted

Treasures of my heritage

Caged within imposing structures

in designated spaces

– Tensula Ao (‘Heritage’ 1-4)

There are 370 million indigenous peoples in the world and they constitute 5 per cent of the population. They are called tribal people or first-nation, and in India many identify with the name Adivasi. One defining feature of all tribal communities is their special relationship with their ancestral lands: their culture and society is inextricably linked with their territory.

The special relationship between indigenous people and their ancestral lands has been recognized by international human rights law as well as the domestic laws of many countries. In 2007, the United Nations passed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Article 26 of which states that:

Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired.

Indigenous peoples have the right to own, use, develop and control the lands, territories and resources that they possess by reason of traditional ownership or other traditional occupation or use, as well as those which they have otherwise acquired.

States shall give legal recognition and protection to these lands, territories and resources. Such recognition shall be conducted with due respect to the customs, traditions and land tenure systems of the indigenous peoples concerned.

The focus of the Naga national movement has been the integration of all Naga-inhabited lands, and the slogan of the movement has been ‘Kuknalim’—‘KUK’ is derived from the Tenyidie word ‘KUO’ meaning ‘victory’; ‘NA’ means ‘people’ and ‘LIMA’ means ‘land.’ Some writers have said that the word was coined by Takatemsu and is purely an Ao derivative, and others claim that it is a word made from two Naga languages: ‘Kukna’ in Chang means ‘victory’ and ‘lim’ in Ao means ‘land.’ There is, however, no controversy over the meaning of the word: ‘KUKNALIM’, it is agreed, means ‘Victory to our People and Land.’

The Land

When the Naga nationalists refer to Nagaland, they do not refer to the present State of Nagaland within India but to the entire Naga-inhabited parts of Indian and Myanmar.

The Naga-inhabited areas stretch from India to across the international border in Myanmar. Naga territory is a part of the North East Region of India which is situated between the Himalayas (China, Bhutan and Nepal), the Indian Ocean (Bangladesh) and wide fluvial corridors (Brahmaputra, Chindwin and the Irrawaddy rivers).

In 1963 the Indian government announced the creation of Nagaland State within the Indian union. The Naga nationalists looked at this as a measure of counter-insurgency to divide their people because a large number of Nagas lived outside the state.

Before the formation of the Nagaland State, ‘Nagaland’ meant all Naga-inhabited areas; but with the establishment of Nagaland State the Indian government began calling the demand for the integration of Naga-inhabited areas as a call for ‘Greater Nagaland.’

The Nagas set up a commission to go into the question of nomenclature and in 1995 at the 16th General Conference of the Naga Students’ Federation at Phek, it was decided that the Nagas would call their land Nagalim. In 1999 the National Socialist Council of Nagaland changed its name to National Socialist Council of Nagalim.

The actual boundaries of the territory claimed by the Nagas have changed over the years. The National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN I-M) have released a map of Nagalim which includes the Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills, District of Assam; districts of Golaghat, Shibsagar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, and Jorhat. It also includes Dibang valley, Lohit, Tirap and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh and five of the sixteen districts of Manipur—Tamenglong, Senapati, Kangpoki (Sadar Hills), Ukhrul and Chandel.

In Myanmar, a Naga Self-Administered Zone has been created in Sagaing Division under the 2008 Constitution. But the Nagas have challenged the boundaries defining their territory as per the Myanmar Government because only Layshi, Lahe and Namyun were included in the Naga Self-Administered Zone, whereas the Naga nationalists claim the following townships:

Homalin

Lahe with Tanbakwe sub-township

Layshi with Mowailut sub-township and Somrah sub-township

Khamti

Khanpat

Namyun with Pangsau sub-township

Tamu of Sagaing Division

Tanai of Kachin State

Map of Nagalim as claimed by Naga nationalists

Naga nationalists refer to Naga-inhabited territory in Myanmar as Eastern Nagaland; the Naga-inhabited territory in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Nagaland as Western Nagaland and the Naga-inhabited areas within Manipur as Southern Nagaland.

The Naga Tribes

There is debate on the exact number of tribes included within the Naga nation. In the nineteenth century this was a socio-anthropological question—now it is a political one.

The number of tribes included in the Naga nation has also changed over time. In a publication called ‘Naga National Rights and Movement’ brought out by the Publicity and Information Department of the Naga National Council in 1993, eighty-four tribes are listed as belonging to the Naga nation of which twenty-seven are from Myanmar.

The Naga Hoho, the apex body of the Nagas set up in 1994, brought out a ‘White Paper on Naga Integration’ (May 2002) in which they listed a total of sixty-six tribes, some which were spread across the international border and some which were only in either in India or Myanmar. However, they added a caveat: out of the sixty-six tribes, 50 per cent are subject to confirmation.

The tribes included within the Naga nation keep changing because some smaller tribes unite together to form one larger unit, or sometimes sub-tribes. There are tribes in in Manipur where half the members identify themselves as Naga while the other half identify with the non-Naga tribes, mainly the Zomi group of tribes. A tribe may seek recognition within a state or as a Scheduled Tribe under the Indian Constitution, and they may seek recognition from the parallel government run by the Naga insurgents.

Despite the fact that each Naga tribe has different customs, languages and histories, anthropologists have observed that ‘ethno-linguistically and culturally the Naga tribes are somewhat homogenous…all Nagas are of mixed origins marked by commonness in their institutions, social structures, polity, descent systems and oral traditions.’i

Map of Naga Tribe Distribution

Source: Naga Students Federation

One of the biggest challenges before the Naga national movement is to weld the different tribes into a Naga nation.

A brief history of the Nagas and their resistance to incursions into their territory is given below to give the reader a background to the reasons for Naga national movement and its ability to sustain itself over so many decades.

Origins of the Nagas

According to the oral traditions of many Naga tribes, their ancestors migrated from Yunnan in China. Some claim they were forced to leave during the construction of the Great Wall of China.

Having travelled from China through the jungles of Myanmar, the Nagas arrived at Makhel. The Naga tribes pronounce the name in different ways—Makhriffi, Meikhel, Mekroma, Mekharomei, Mekrimi, Makhel, or Makhriohfu—but there is no dispute over the exact location of the village or its significance.

Makhel is a small village near Sajouba, Tadubi village of Senapati district in Manipur on the border of Nagaland State. But Makhel existed long, long before the existence of Senapati, Manipur, or even India.

It is said this village became so prosperous that the people had to leave and migrate to different parts of the region. The community must have grown and flourished because there came a time when the land could no longer provide for all of them. It was time to move once again. It was a time of parting, a time to separate from one’s loved ones, search for new lands and establish new villages.

Before they dispersed, the people of Makhel planted a pear tree and under the tree they took a solemn oath that they would one day come together again. Even today the tree stands and is called Chütebu.ii No one was allowed to cut even a small branch of this sacred tree. Legend has it that anyone who tries to cut a branch will instantly fall to his death and a terrible storm will follow.

However, if a branch of the tree broke on its own, the chief of Makhel would immediately send a message to all the people of Makhel and they would observe ‘genna’, during which period no one could go to the fields and all had to maintain a state of ritual purity. The fallen branch would be left to decay and return to the soil. This custom was practiced in living memory of Nagas before their conversion to Christianity.iii In 1880 a British army officer passing the village of Makhel noted that there was a pear tree which had stood for three or four hundred years, and was greatly venerated by the villagers. However, he did not discover the reason for this veneration.iv

Often Naga scholars have described the tree as an apple tree in an attempt to link it to the Garden of Eden; they have not speculated on the symbolism of the pear tree. Pears are native to China. In ancient Chinese civilization, the pear tree symbolizes longevity and immortality.

There is a Chinese superstition that pears should never be shared. In Chinese, the phrase for ‘sharing a pear’ is 分梨 (fēn lí). It is a homophone of 分离 (fēn lí) which means ‘to separate’. Therefore, sharing a pear would mean you separate from the person with whom you share the fruit.

On January 1, 1992, a monolith was erected at the site of the pear tree (Chütebu) and the inscription on the monolith reads: ‘This tree is known as the oldest tree in the history of the Nagas…This tree still stands as a symbol of unity and oneness of the whole Naga tribes…’

Beginning of Naga Resistance

Naga nationalists trace the beginning of Naga resistance against incursions into their territory to the time of the Tai-Ahom invasion in the thirteenth century. The Tai people came from what is today the border between Myanmar and China’s Yunnan province. The Tai (or Shan) people are called Ahom in India.

The Ahom dynasty (1228–1826) was established by Sukaphaa, a Shan prince of Mong Mao who came to Assam after crossing the Patkai mountains. The Ahom dynasty ruled for 598 years; their rule ended with the Burmese invasion of Assam and the subsequent annexation by the British East India Company following the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826.v

According to a statement issued by the Naga National Council in 1955vi the genesis of the Naga political resistance started in 1228 A.D. when the Tai invaded Assam. This position was reiterated by Thuingaleng Muivah in an interview in 2009, when asked by journalist Subir Ghosh: ‘The birth of Naga nationalism is seen by many as the submission of a memorandum to the Simon Commission in 1929. Do you agree that the formation of the Naga Club (in 1918) was the first concrete step towards Naga nationalism?’

Thuingaleng Muivah replied: ‘It would be a serious mistake if one thinks that the submission of a memorandum to the Simon Commission in 1929 was the birth of Naga nationalism. The Nagas’ history did not start with this incident. Alien forces in the past had met with stiff resistance from the Nagas—the Shans from the east and the Ahoms from the west, prior to the British intrusion into Nagaland. The British suffered many setbacks from the resistance put up by the Nagas. All these acts actuated from the love of their country. Indeed, Nagas were zealous of their homeland. The formation of the Naga Club and the submission of the memorandum to the Simon Commission are, of course, historic in that the Naga Club officially represented the Nagas and the memorandum expressed the national aspiration of the Nagas as a whole.’vii

Apart from these statements by Naga nationalist leaders, the oral tradition of the Nagas, including their songs and folk stories, testify to their resistance against Ahom incursions. For instance, Ao Nagas have a song about a warrior called Kumnatoba who led an army of Naga warriors right into Rongpur, the Ahom capital, and killed many enemies young and old, carrying back countless heads as trophies of war along with cattle, utensils and clothing.

It was in December 1228 A.D. that Sukaphaa, the first Ahom King, crossed the Patkai through the Pangchao Pass (through which the Stilwell Road was made during the World War). He faced stiff resistance from Naga warriors but they were ultimately defeated. This is how the Ahom Burranji records Sukaphaa’s savagery:

A great number of Nagas was killed and many were made captives. Some Nagas were cut to pieces and their fleshes (sic) cooked. Then the king made a younger brother eat the cooked flesh of his elder brother and a father of his son’s. Thus Sukaphaa destroyed the Naga villages. The inhabitants of other villages being very much afraid acknowledged his subjugation.viii

However, the Nagas continued their resistance to the Ahoms. There were altogether forty Ahom Kings who ruled for six hundred years from 1228 to 1838 when the British deposed the last King and annexed Assam.

The Burranjis record confrontation between Ahoms and Nagas in the reign of sixteen Ahom kings, with the conflicts intensifying after the thirteenth king ascended the throne in 1493 and expanded his kingdom into Naga territory. The conflict was often over control of salt wells located in Naga lands.

Naga Resistance to British Colonial Rule

The Naga resistance to British incursions is well-documented by various authors including Tajenyuba Ao in his book British Occupation of Naga Country (1993).

The British sent ten military expeditions against the Angamis from 1839 and 1865. The tenth expedition was sent to Khonoma in 1850 when a force of 500 soldiers of Assam Light Infantry and 200 soldiers of Cachar and Jorhat Militia were sent along with two mountain guns and two mortars. The force entered the hills in December, where they were attacked by the Nagas with showers of spears and rocks, killing thirty-six sepoys.

In November 1879 the British again attacked Khonoma, and this time also the Naga warriors defended their village by throwing huge rocks and spears from their strongly built fort on top of the hill. In that battle two British officers and one native Subedar Major were killed, two British officers and two native officers were wounded, and forty-four soldiers were killed.

The British imposed a heavy penalty on the villagers as punishment for resistance. Here is a vivid description of the destruction of Khonoma village by the British:

In 1880 the village of Khonoma had its wonderful terraced cultivation confiscated and its clans were dispersed among other villages. The result was that the dispossessed villagers found themselves not only deprived of their homes, but, by confiscation of their settled cultivation, they were during the whole year reduced to the condition of homeless wanderers, dependent to a great extent on the charity of neighbours and living in temporary huts in the jungles. The result was widespread sickness and mortality.ix

This was the experience of hundreds of Naga villages throughout the colonial era. There are songs about the suffering of the Nagas during colonial rule like this one composed by the people of Khonoma:

You from far unknown valley

Looking more ghost-like than man

With peculiar wooden toys

Crushing neighbours without much effort

Have settled in our land

May we with good fortune

Conquer and defeat

And have our serenity once again.

The Nagas deeply resented the rules and regulations made by the British which were both humiliating and oppressive. T Aliba Imti,¹ the first President of the Naga National Council, describes these rules in his book Reminiscence: Impur to Naga National Council. He states that the regulations did not come in writing but were passed on the whims of the Deputy Commissioner. For instance, he recalls that in the Naga hills, Naga students were forbidden from dressing in Western clothes or having Western haircuts. He writes:

They were to dress in loin cloth, as that was the dress of the tribals, and to have their hair cut in the tribal way, round the head, and anyone not found in this tribal attire and haircut was to be fined a sum of 2 rupees—a big sum in those days. In this regard, I told the Mokokchung High School boys that this was nonsense and a stupid order which should be challenged. ‘I am the owner of my head’ I said. This was in September 1946, and this practice was still in force. I told the boys in the hostel that if they so desired they could keep their hair cut any way they wanted. This statement was very much appreciated and applauded. I jokingly said this should not create any students unrest! Anyway, from the next day the boys went all out and cut their hair in the Western or as the British called it the Bengali style.x

Jadonang and Rani Gaidinliu

Many accounts of the Naga national movement are silent about the role of Jadonang, the man who gave a call for Naga Raj. In our interviews with the Naga leaders we did not have any discussion on their views of this history.

Jadonang started a movement against the British and he was released after his first arrest on December 8, 1928 a month before the Naga Club submitted its Memorandum to the Simon Commission in January 1929.

We do not know the exact date of Jadonang’s birth. According to his cousin and disciple, Rani Gaidinliu, he was born in 1901; his son has calculated that Jadonang was born in 1885 while the British official records state that the year of birth was 1905.

Jadonang was born into a poor Rongmei family living in Puiluan village (called Kambiron by Meiteis) overlooking the Barak river in Zeliangrong country. His mother’s name was Chunlungliu and father’s name, Thiudai. The baby boy was named Mazahduanang but he became famous as Jadonang.

Jadonang was an unusual child, and there are oral traditions about his mystical experiences and long trances. On one occasion when Jadonang was barely two years old he walked into thick mist and did not return till late. He came back smiling.

There are stories of how the little toddler would wander into the forest alone and how he would sleep for so long that it worried the parents. However, little Jadonang assured them that he was visiting the house of Tingkao Raagong (the Supreme God).

Jadonang became known as a social and religious reformer with powers to heal and to predict the future. He was a deeply spiritual man who introduced many reforms in the traditional religion because many irrational and obscurantist practices had entered into peoples’ religious practices. He also wrote new hymns and songs.

After he had laid the foundation for social and religious reform, Jadonang started his political campaign against the injustice and oppression of British colonial rule. Jadonang preached to his people that they should unite and fight against the British. He prophesized that British rule would end, and in its place there would be Naga Raj. People were attracted to Jadonang’s idea of Naga Raj in which there would be no diseases, famines, or taxes; people would not be forced to give their labour without payment as they were compelled to do by the British rulers.

Jadonang began to train young men and women as ‘Riphen’ or soldiers who would carry forward the message of social reform, spiritual rejuvenation and political resistance. The soldiers learnt the use of dao, spear-hurling, gun shooting, and making of gun powder. The villagers supported the Riphen by contributing food grain, and other basic necessities.

Jadonang used to travel on a pony gifted to him by a friend, and he wore trousers and a hat. On one occasion when he met a British officer he told the officer to go away from his land. On another occasion in 1927 Jadonang refused to dismount or doff his hat when he encountered the British SDO. He was arrested and put into jail. He was released after a few days.

The same year he heard that Gandhiji was to visit Silchar. Jadonang thought of joining forces with the Indian freedom fighter and mobilized 200 boys and girls to present a dance to him. Jadonang even composed a song in honour of Gandhiji. But he was deeply disappointed when Gandhiji had to cancel his programme and the two leaders never met.

Jadonang’s activities were being carefully monitored by the British rulers who began to feel threatened by his growing popularity. In 1929 Jadonang launched his first overtly anti-British agitation by calling for a boycott of the three rupee house tax being imposed by the colonial authorities in Naga-inhabited areas. He also protested against the British using villagers as porters and making them carry heavy loads. Even though Jadonang was inspired by Gandhiji, he did not believe in non-violent struggle. Jadonang, very secretly, collected both firearms and traditional spears to launch an armed resistance to colonial rule.

Jadonang was framed in a false case, arrested and incarcerated in the Imphal jail. He was denied the right to a lawyer; without a fair trial, he was convicted and sentenced to death.

On Saturday, August 29, 1931, at 6 a.m., Jadonang was hanged at Imphal jail. He was twenty-six years old.

Jadonang’s movement did not end with his hanging. His cousin and disciple, sixteen-year-old Gaidinliu, continued to resist British rule. She was an extraordinary girl with little formal education but knowledge of several languages—Rongmei, Meitei-lon, Assamese, Hindi, Nepali, and Bengali.

It took more than a year for the British to arrest the young girl and imprison her in October 1932. Gaidinliu was kept in jail for fourteen long years and it was only after India won independence that she was released.

Rani Gaidinliu was released under the care of the father-in-law of T Aliba Imti; Imti writes that when she was first released, she could not walk properly due to long years of imprisonment. He describes his first meeting with Rani: ‘I met Rani Gaidinliu and we shared our views about the situation that was prevailing and what the youth of our generation were thinking. It was a bit difficult to converse with her as she would use all kinds of languages; a word or two in Bengali, another in Khasi and a bit later in Chang and so on. Anyway after two sittings of more than six hours I could understand in brief that she was all for the independence of India from the British.’xi

The Naga nationalists find it difficult to accommodate Rani Gaidinlu within the pantheon of Naga freedom fighters because in later years, she was more concerned with fighting for a Zeliangrong homeland within the Indian Union than with integration of all Naga territories. Besides, the stress on ‘Nagaland for Christ’ makes it virtually impossible to accommodate non-Christians as Naga nationalists.

The leaders of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland have, however, in recent years acknowledged the contribution made by Jadonang to the Naga cause. For instance, in 2010 Thuingaleng Muivah visited the Zeliangrong village Peren and acknowledged Jadonang’s contribution in these words: ‘Jadonang knew that British people are not the masters of the Nagas, but masters of themselves.’ He added that in this Jadonang was correct, even if he ‘did not know God.’

This acknowledgement of Jadonang was perhaps more in response to the need to appease the Zeliangrong sentiment than to evolve a more inclusive Naga nationalism.

The Naga Club

Many scholars and Naga nationalists trace the origins of the first political consciousness among Nagas to the establishment of the Naga Club in 1918. The Naga Club was formed mostly by those Nagas who had gone to France during the First World War (1914–1918) as a part of the Labour Corps. The British Government recruited a number of labourers and porters from the Naga tribes.

It is estimated that around 2000 Nagas were sent to France, where, alienated from the other British Indian troops, they developed a sense of unity. They agreed that after returning to their homeland they would work towards unity and friendship among the various Naga tribes. These Nagas, together with the British officials, formed the Naga Club in 1918. Later, the Club ran a co-operative store in Mokokchung which was the first of its kind. This club provided the socio-political foundation for the Naga nationalist movement.

The Naga Club members thought of themselves as the only representatives of the Naga people and therefore having a mandate to speak on their behalf. On January 10, 1929 the members of the Naga Club submitted a memorandum to the Indian Statutory Commission.

The Commission was a group of seven British Members of Parliament that had been dispatched to India in 1927 to study constitutional reform in Britain’s most important colony, India. It was commonly referred to as the Simon Commission after its chairman, Sir John Simon. Indians were outraged and insulted that the Simon Commission, which was to determine the future of India, did not include a single Indian member. The Indian National Congress resolved to boycott the Commission.

The Naga memorandum read:

Sir,

We the Undersigned Nagas of the Naga Club at Kohima, who are the only persons at present who can voice for our people have heard with great regret that our Naga Hills is included in the Reformed Scheme of India without our knowledge, but as administrator of our Hills is continued to be in the hands of the British Officers and we did not consider it necessary to raise any protest in the past. Now we learnt that you have come to India as representative of the British Government to enquire into the working of the system of Government and the growth of education and we beg to submit below our view with prayer that our Hills may be withdrawn from the Reformed Scheme and placed outside the Reforms but directly under British Government. We never asked for any reforms and we do not wish for any reforms.

Before the British Government conquered our country in 1879-80, we were living in a state of intermitted warfare with the Assamese of the Assam valley to the North and West of our country and Manipuris to the South. They never conquered us nor were we subjected to their rules. On the other hand, we were always a terror to these people. Our country within the administered area consists of more than eight regions quite different from one another, with quite different languages which cannot be understood by each other, and there are more regions outside the administered area which are not known at present. We have no unity among us and it is only the British Government that is holding us together now.

Our education is poor. The occupation of our country by the British Government being so recent as 1880, we have had no chance or opportunity to improve in education and though we can boast of two three graduates of an Indian University in our country, we have not got one yet who is able to represent all our different regions or master our languages much less one to represent us in any council of a province. Moreover, our population numbering 1,02,000 is very small in comparison with the population of the plain district in the province; and any representation that may be allotted to us in the council will be negligible and will have no weight whatever. Our language is quite different from those of the plains and we have no social affinities with the Hindus or Mussalmans. We are looked down upon by the one for ‘beef’ and the other for our ‘pork’ and by both for our want in education, is not due to any fault of ours.

Our country is poor and it does not pay for any administration. Therefore if it is continued to be placed under Reformed Scheme, we are afraid new and heavy taxes will have to be imposed on us, and when we cannot pay, then all lands have to be sold and in long run we shall have no share in the land of our birth and life will not be worth living then. Though our land at present is within the British territory, Government have always recognized our private rights in it, but if we are forced to enter the council the majority of whose number is sure to belong to other districts, we also have much fear the introduction of foreign laws and customs to supersede our own customary laws which we now enjoy.

For the above reasons, we pray that the British Government will continue to safeguard our rights against all encroachment from other people who are more advanced than us by withdrawing our country that we should not be thrust to the mercy of other people who could never be subjected; but to leave us alone to determine ourselves as in ancient times. We claim not only the members of ‘Naga Club’ to represent all those regions to which we belong viz, Angamis, Kacha Nagas, Kukis, Semas, Lothas and Rengmas, but also other regions of Nagaland.

Some Nagas have argued that it was in response to this memorandum that parts of the Naga-inhabited areas were declared excluded and semi-excluded areas under the Government of India Act, 1935. Subsequently, Nagas have argued that the declaration of these areas as ‘Excluded’ meant that large tracts of Naga territory were independent of colonial rule and thus were independent.

In 2017 some Naga nationalists declared that January 10 would be observed as Naga Day to commemorate the day the memorandum was submitted to the British.

Excluded Areas and the Idea of the Crown Colony

The creation of Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas in both India and Burma by the British was a part of their ambitions in keeping the people divided and using them in their quest to control the strategically important region.

The British justified the provision for Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas on the grounds that the people living in these areas were so backward and primitive that they needed a special system of administration which would be simple and direct.

Sir Robert Reid, then Governor of Assam (composite province), wrote in Geographical Journal in February 1944, explaining the idea of Excluded Areas:

The title ‘Excluded Areas’ which has been given to this paper is, I need hardly say, indicative of nothing forbidden or mysterious, but is a purely official phrase taken from the Indian Constitution Act of 1935. It is the lineal descendant of the older phrase ‘Backward Tracts,’ and means that the areas enumerated as such in the Government of India (Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas) Order 1936 are excluded from the operation of the said Act. They are directly administered by the Governor, and elected Ministry have no jurisdiction over them. Finance however and staff have to be found by the province as a whole.xii

The Indian National Congress brought out a pamphlet written by ZA Ahmad (Allahabad, 1937) which criticized the idea of Excluded Areas as an imperialist ruse: ‘Special forest and game laws, land laws, excise laws and a number of other enactments are hitting at the very root of the economic life of these people, virtually reducing them to the position of chattel slaves or serfs of big landowners, tea planters and other European adventurers.’

The British had usurped large tracts of Naga territory for their tea plantations and by enactment of the Inner Line Regulation in 1873 ensured that the Nagas were confined to the hill areas.

David R. Syiemlieh in his book, On the Edge of Empire: Four British Plans for North East India, 1941–1947, has documented how the idea of keeping the North East region excluded was part of a secret British plan during the closing years of their rule, discussed at the highest levels of the colonial administration for setting up a Crown Colony comprising the hill areas of the North East India and the tribal areas of Burma.

The strategic and geographical location of the North East, boxed in by four countries viz., China (Tibet), Burma, East Pakistan, and Bhutan, with only a 22 km wide chicken-neck corridor of Siliguri linking it with mainland India, the region fitted well into the scheme of the colonial rulers to turn into their ‘Crown Colony’ under the ‘Coupland Plan’.

However, the Nagas did not support the idea of a Crown Colony and in the letter to Rajagopalachari written by Phizo from Presidency jail in November 1948, he reminded the Indian leader that both Nagas and Indians endured British colonialism; the Nagas never supported the secret British plans to create a Crown Colony. However, now with the British about to leave, India should respect the right of the Nagas to independence.xiii

Indo-Naga Relations

The British had ensured that the Indian freedom fighters did not reach the people of the North East region by banning their entry in the Excluded areas. However, the Naga nationalists had heard of many Indian leaders and there was no hostility towards the Indians in the pre-independence period.

Among the Indian leaders who inspired many young Nagas was Subhash Chandra Bose, or Netaji as Indians called him. In 1938 Netaji visited Shillong for the first time. Bose was the President of the Indian National Congress at that time. Some Naga students went to meet Netaji, including Aliba Imti who recalls the meeting in these words:

More out of curiosity, eight or nine of us Naga boys went to his (Subhash Chandra Bose’s) lodging to meet him and he welcomed us warmly and spent about 15 minutes talking to us. In sparkling white dhoti and shirt and with a fitting Gandhi cap he struck me as one of the handsomest men I had ever met. A Naga sword was presented to him which he accepted joyfully. I was amongst the juniors in the group so I cannot recall the exact gist of the talk. But one sentence of him still remains clearly in my mind, he laughingly said, ‘You Naga are very brave and so you must join us in the struggle for independence of India.’’

The news of this meeting reached the ears of the SDO Mokokchung H Blah who summoned Aliba Imti’s father and warned him that if he did not control his son, he could lose his job.xiv

In 1945 when Jawaharlal Nehru became the President of the Indian National Congress, he too visited Shillong. His first meeting was organized by Naga students, including Imti. Nehru stayed in the home of Reverend Nichols Roy (the man behind the idea of the Sixth Schedule).

Aliba Imti describes his meeting with Nehru further:

Panditji’s first meeting in Shillong was the one arranged by us and I was the one to escort him to the public meeting scheduled to be held at Nongthommai football ground at 9 a.m. March 1945. The rush to take Panditji to the venue was great as different groups had each arranged vehicles. I had arranged a tiny car (perhaps a Morris) said to have belonged to a prince, through some friends…. On coming out, Panditji saw the number of cars there and specially the one of the stubborn party whose car was profusely decorated and remarked that the vehicle should not follow him as it reminded him of a funeral party. I immediately opened the door of the car for him, he entered followed by Mr Gopinath Bordoloi, then ex-premier of Assam. I sat in front with the driverand we proceeded forthwith… Approaching the venue, four Naga boys dressed splendidly in native costume saluted Panditji. He got down from the car and shook hands with all of four of them and proceeded to the platform which was a short distance away. The dais itself was encircled by tribal boys in full costume. It was a very impressive meeting. The ground was packed with people. There were also many Indian and foreign correspondents covering the event. I was surprised when Panditji opened his speech by mentioning the Naga boys and Naga people…xv

The Nagas were still debating on their relationship with India after the British left. As Aliba Imti wrote in his memoirs, the Nagas were neither sure of their identity nor their future. There were intense debates among the Nagas on whether Nagas were Indian or not, and what the relationship should be between India and the Nagas.

There were Indians like Jaipal Singh Munda (1903-1970) who championed the rights of Nagas in the Constituent Assembly. He had said: ‘I say that we, all of us, stand by them in their demand for that feeling of oneness, to have one consolidated Nagasthan within the territory of India.’xvi Jaipal Singh emerged as a campaigner for the causes of Adivasis and the creation of a separate homeland for them in central India.

Earlier, a Naga delegation led by Phizo had met Gandhi at the Bhangi colony in Delhi on July 19, 1947, and he had assured them, ‘I will come to Kohima and ask them to shoot me before they shoot one Naga… Personally, I believe you all belong to me, to India. But if you say you don’t, no one can force you.’

The Naga nationals furiously debated on whether they wanted to have a measure of autonomy within India or be an independent country. Those debates took place within the first political organization of the Nagas, the Naga National Council.

Naga National Council

Nagas see many parallels in the formation of the Naga National Council and the Indian National Congress. Just as a British administrator AO Hume founded the Indian National Congress in 1885, the British Deputy Commissioner of the Naga Hills, CR Pawsey, played a pivotal role in the formation of the Naga National Council.

Mr Pawsey’s concern for the disunited Nagas led him to form the first political body called Naga Hills District Tribal Council (NHDTC) in April 1945. His ostensible objective of forming this body was to unite the Nagas and also to repair some of the damage done to the Naga villages and Naga economy by the devastations of World War II.

The following year, on 2 February 1946, the NHDTC met at Wokha and changed its name to the Naga National Council (NNC) with the aim of uniting all the Naga tribes under one political umbrella. Aliba Imti was chosen as the first President and T Sakhrie as the Secretary.

The Naga national leaders are often divided into moderates such as T Aliba Imti, Sakhrie and Suisa; in contrast to the extremists such as Phizo, Muivah and Isak Swu. This division was made by the Indian State to distinguish between those willing to accept the Constitution of India and those who did not; those who use armed resistance and those who thought use of arms would not succeed.

However, both the ‘moderates’ and those who took to armed resistance had a common goal: to unite all Naga-inhabited territory under one administration. The differences were of strategy and tactics.

The Naga National Council began with a commitment to non-violence and non-co-operation; but within ten years of its formation the organization moved to supporting armed resistance against what they saw as Indian occupation of their land.

The NNC was closely knitted together through the Central Council, Tribal Councils, Regional Councils and Village Councils. It was first formed with twenty-nine members representing the various tribes on proportional representation of one member for every 10,000 people. As to its membership, every Naga born of Naga blood was by virtue of birthright a member of the NNC.

The Naga National Council was supported and financed by the villages with a membership fee of two rupees; the villagers also contributed in kind such as with vegetables, paddy, cows and mithuns.

It was the fourth President of the Naga National Council, Angami Zapu Phizo, who would begin an armed movement for establishment of a sovereign independent Nagaland. When he died, he would be called the Father of Naga Nationalism.

Angami Zapu Phizo

Phizo was born on May 16, 1904 in Khonoma. He attended school in his village. When he was eleven years old, he went to Kohima where he watched the British recruit volunteers for the Labour Corps. The men were recruited to serve as porters in France during the First World War; they had no idea how terrifying their experience would be.

Later, Phizo studied at the Mission School at Kohima and was baptized by Sidney Rivenberg in December 1922 when he was eighteen years of age. He supplemented his pocket money by looking after the mission’s cows and working as part-time janitor. Phizo then went to Assam Government High School at Shillong but he did not pass his matriculation.

Phizo went to Burma in 1935 where he lived for eleven years. In Burma he was in touch with the Indian National Army and met its charismatic leader Subhash Chandra Bose. Phizo never gave a full account of his activities in Burma and the extent to which he collaborated with the Japanese.xvii

The Japanese attack on India was launched March 1944. The two most bitter battles were fought in Imphal and Kohima, where the British with the help of the Nagas defeated the Japanese by September of the same year. Only 70,000 of the original 270,000 Japanese force survived.

Phizo was taken into custody and imprisoned in Insein jail, a few miles from Rangoon. Of his interrogation, Phizo said ‘Gradually a damning picture of my dealings with the Japanese was built up. My interrogators accepted no extenuating circumstances. I was condemned as a traitor regardless of what I said. But I was certainly not a traitor to my own conscience.’xviii

It was while he was in prison that Phizo suffered from Bell’s Palsy, a paralysis of the facial muscles causing inability to close one eye.

Phizo was released from jail in the beginning of 1946. By June, Phizo and his family sailed across the Bay of Bengal by steamer on their way home to Nagaland.

On his return Phizo involved himself in rebuilding Kohima which had been devastated by the war. He was elected Chairman of the Kohima Central Council and consequently was in the leadership of the Naga National Council. However, Phizo was impatient with the moderate attitude of the NNC and he withdrew in 1948 to found the People’s Independence League, the Naga Youth Movement and the Naga Women’s Society, mobilizing Naga people around the demand for full independence.

On December 11, 1950, Phizo was elected the fourth President of the Naga National Council. In May 1951 the Naga National Council organized a plebiscite on the question of independence. The plebiscite was inaugurated on May 16, 1951 and Phizo went from village to village to collect signatures and thumb impressions. Solemn oaths were taken and the results showed that 99.9 per cent of the Nagas voted for a sovereign, independent Nagaland. Some members put their thumb impression in blood.

The NNC boycotted the general elections in 1952 and by the next year Phizo organized the Naga Guards under Thungti Chang. Naga armed resistance to what the NNC called ‘Indian occupation’ had begun.

On March 30, 1953, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, accompanied by the Burmese Prime Minister, U Nu (1907-1995) arrived in Kohima. The NNC leaders wanted to submit a memorandum to Nehru but the Deputy Commissioner, Satyen Bakatoki, on the advice of the intelligence agents refused them permission. The NNC called for a boycott of the meeting. The Nagas turned their backs to him, slapped their