Thepfulhouvi Solo (IFS Retd),
Retd Principal Secretary, Nagaland
The 213th Rajya Sabha Standing Committee that P. Chidambaram chaired, in its Report presented to the Rajya Sabha on July 19 on the Security situation of the Northeast among others, published in Nagaland Page 26 July 2018, said: (quoted)
“It was the WW II that united the numerous Naga Tribes and clans and converted them to modern guerilla fighting machines, providing them with arms and ammunition left behind by the Japanese army to wage their armed struggle for sovereignty. Nagaland also blamed the policies of British that prevented the Naga Tribesman to mingle with the greater Indian society.”
Such highest-level Reports have tremendous impacts and consequences on the development Policies of the Government that would affect the whole country and the people immensely.
There are inaccuracies, assumptions and irrelevancies in the Report on Naga Hill and the Naga Tribesman. A few of the important ones are:
i. The WW II united the numerous Naga Tribes and Clans.
ii. The WW II converted Nagas to modern guerilla fighting machines with arms and ammunition left behind by the Japanese army.
iii. Nagaland blamed the policies of British that prevented the Naga Tribesman to mingle with the greater Indian society.
1. The claim that the WW II united the Naga Tribes and Clans, if it were true, would have as well, united the various Castes, Races and Divisions of India without the Indian National Congress movements.
It is not understandable how the battle of Kohima would unite the Naga Tribes and Clans. It was not a War between the Naga and Japan. It was a war of the Whiteman with Japan.
Most importantly, the WW II never overran the whole of Naga Hills District in the way it overran most of Europe and Asia, and continued for several years. In Naga Hills, there was only one isolated battle of Kohima that lasted only for 3 months that ended in the defeat and retreat of the invading Japanese forces. The Battle of Kohima did not extend to other parts of the Naga Hills District.
The battle confined around only the British HQ of Kohima and there simply was no reason of connection for uniting the whole Naga tribes already under one peaceful District of British Administration.
The burden of sudden violent deaths and massive destructiveness of a modern battle from gunfire of automatic rifles, machine Guns from far distances and bomb blasts rained down from the Air, fell on the Naga and non-Naga communities in and around Kohima only.
The great majority of Tribes only heard the story from hearsay in their remote Villages surrounded by trackless jungle.
2. Did the single battle of Kohima, - exaggerated as World War II- converted the whole Nagas tribes into a modern guerilla fighting machines with arms and ammunition left behind by a section of retreating Japanese Army?
There is an interesting perception of an old veteran of Kohima Village, Lt, Vimedo Rutsa, when asked by some Authors of a possible Book on why the Japanese lost the Battle said:
“The Japanese lost Kohima battle because they did not bring their Tiffin.”
Most Naga read with elation the interesting story that the Naga turned into “modern guerilla fighting Machines with the leftover arms and ammunitions of the Japanese, to wage their armed struggle for sovereignty.” Such stories are attractively speculative fairy tales of armchair Writers not known to reality on ground!
Most Authors, of books from the West who took part in the Kohima battle and on the wider WW II, narrated the difficult overstretched support line of the Japanese War Materials from Burma. The Lack of food, of Ammunitions run out and the great importance of Native population support for the Allied forces, were the main reasons for the Japanese debacle in the battle of Kohima.
The bountiful war materials of the allied forces left over the entire battleground with -unexploded bombs, missiles, rockets, live bullets in Boxes or strewn on the ground and in trenches and CGI Sheets of burned out houses perforated like Iron Nets with bullets, broken down vehicles scattered here and there, testify the dominance of the Allied Forces.
It was however, not many to find Japanese Rifles, its short bayonet of unusual hard steel, Swords, split-toe rubber shoes with footprints different for different Grades of Officers, small cooking pot and ladle-in-1, pickaxe and hoe-in-1 and few live Japanese bullets.
The Japanese soldiers could not use British bullets because their Rifles were of .22 Bore and that of the Allied were different. Even the few Naga who, after the War, found the few abandoned Japanese rifles had to sawn-off the barrel from the breech, to fit it in with vehicle-steering-wheel pipe and make BL 12 bore Gun for hunting.
Let me not embarrass anybody by mentioning from where and how the gun toting, gun-loving Naga guerrillas obtained their Arms and their Kalashnikovs. They have already taught most of the Armed Groups of the Northeast from where and how to!
In 1983, 39 years after the battle, the Kohima Village Baptist Church decided to have a bigger Church building in the Village at a more central place, which in pagan times was part of a much-feared abode of unknown Ghosts. Very early in the mornings, the members would gather at the site, have prayer and dig the mount side for the foundation of the building.
Living in the city far off from the Village, this Writer with his wife and small children one morning went to the site to contribute their share of the work. When the small family reached the spot at 8 AM, the crowd had already done their share early in the morning and had left the site empty and quiet.
Alone, the family of six –7 years old eldest daughter, two smaller boys including the youngest one-year-old toddler, without prayer, enthusiastically started to dig the ground in pleasant earnestness, and in about an hour, were gladly tired when they dug out a rusty Japanese Rifle characteristically long, unwieldy and unhandy but very accurate 77.5 cm (30 Inches and a half) long barrel. The normal two pieces wood stock of the rifle and other parts were all Termite and rust eaten, and gone.
I thought the bore could be .275, smaller than prohibited 303 of the British, and to find out exactly, I got a .22 shot at home put it in the muzzle and it was surprisingly fitting.
The Rajya Sabha Report that the Naga “converted to modern guerilla fighting machines, with arms and ammunition left behind by the Japanese army to wage their armed struggle for sovereignty”, is a very interesting imaginative work of rare Art, good reading to the Naga, but devoid of reality and depth.
It indicates the Rajya Sabha Standing Committee ignorant of the Cause/Effect of the battle on the Naga outside the battleground. There were no Post Offices, News Papers, Telegraph wires or Wireless communications lines between the Tribes or the Villages surrounded by trackless jungles abounding in ferocious wild animals and in the remote jungles of the State, to unite all the Tribes and clans.
Had the Committee included at least an MP of the Rajya Sabha from Nagaland State or from the Northeast, the Report could have much relevant, sounder, more weighty, deeper and nearer the Truth.
The Northeast and the Mainland worlds are different and if the mainland cares about the northeast enough, it would have at least a backbencher from the Area in relevant Central Bodies! The Northeast also has the right to be in relevant Central Committees that concerns their area and their people. I hope Home Minister Rajnath and Prime Minister Modi have acute Ears and would hear.
3. The Report that: “In 1873, the British introduced the inner line system that prevented the people from the plain from entering the Naga-inhabited areas and Nagaland blamed the policies of British that prevented the Naga Tribesman to mingle with the greater Indian society”, is very True.
However, the British did not prevent the Naga from going out and mingle with people of the outside. In fact, the East India Company Authority, in pursuance of their policy, opened Salt market ‘Hauts’ in the plains and even recorded the increasing number of Nagas that went down every year to Dimapur to barter trade with the outside. This encouraged some of the enterprising Nagas even to go alone as far as Cambay in Gujarat to buy Cornelian Stones in great demands among all Nagas.
The overwhelming majority of Naga today say the Innerline Regulation is welcome and very necessary in picking out unknown, unwelcome immigrants freely entering Nagaland. Nagaland today encourages others to come to Nagaland and the State has relaxed the System to attract Tourist and Investors for easy entrance to the State.
Nagaland was formed a State on 31st December 1963 and the Assembly did not blame the British Policy.
