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Nagaland The Nagas were the inhabitants of the Naga Hills along the North-East frontier on the Assam-Burma border. They numbered nearly 500,000 in 1961, constituted less than 0.1 per cent of India's population, and consisted of many separate tribes speaking different languages. The British had isolated the Nagas from the rest of the country and left them more or less undisturbed though Christian missionary activity was permitted, and which had led to the growth of a small-educated stratum. Immediately after independence, the Government of India followed a policy of integrating the Naga areas with the State of Assam and India as a whole. A section of the Naga leadership, however, opposed such integration and rose in rebellion under the leadership of A.Z. Phizo, demanding separation from India and complete independence. They were encouraged in this move by some of the British officials and missionaries. In 1955, these separatist Nagas declared the formation of an independent government and the launching of a violent insurrection. The Government of India responded with a two-track policy in line with Jawaharlal Nehru’s wider approach towards the tribal people. On the one hand, the Government of India made it clear that it would firmly oppose the secessionist demand for the independence of Naga areas and would not tolerate recourse to violence. Towards a violent secessionist movement, it would firmly follow a policy of suppression and non-negotiations. As Nehru put it, ‘It does not help in dealing with tough people to have weak nerves.’ Consequently, when one section of the Nagas organized an armed struggle for independence, the Government of India replied by sending its army to Nagaland in early 1956 to restore peace and order. On the other hand, Nehru realized that while strong and quick military action would make it clear that the rebels were in a no-win situation, total physical suppression was neither possible nor desirable, for the objective had to be the conciliation and winning over of the Naga people. Nehru was wedded to a ‘friendly approach’. Even while encouraging the Nagas to integrate with the rest of the country ‘in mind and spirit’, he favoured their right to maintain their autonomy in cultural and other matters. He was, therefore, willing to go a long way to win over the Nagas by granting them a large degree of autonomy. Refusing to negotiate with Phizo or his supporters as long as they did not give up their demand for independence or the armed rebellion, he carried on prolonged negotiations with the more moderate, non-violent and non-secessionist Naga leaders, who realized that they could not hope to get a larger degree of autonomy or a more sympathetic leader to settle with than Nehru. In fact, once the back of the armed rebellion was broken by the middle of 1957, the more moderate Naga leaders headed by Dr Imkongliba Ao came to the fore. They negotiated for the creation of the State of Nagaland within the Indian union. The Government of India accepted their demand through a series of intermediate steps, and the State of Nagaland came into existence in 1963. A further step forward was taken in the integration of the Indian nation. In addition, politics in Nagaland since then followed, for better or worse, the pattern of politics in the other states of the union. With the formation of Nagaland as a state, the back of rebellion was broken as the rebels lost much of their popular support. Though the insurgency has been brought under control, sporadic guerilla activity by Naga rebels trained in China, Pakistan, and Burma and periodic terrorist attacks continue till this day. We may also refer to one other feature of the Naga situation. Even though the record of the Indian army in Nagaland has been on the whole clean, especially if the difficult conditions under which they operate are kept in view, it has not been without blemish. Its behaviour has been sometimes improper and in rare cases even brutal. Too many times innocent people have suffered. Then it has also paid a heavy price through the loss of its soldiers and officers in guerilla attacks. Mizoram |
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