Kaka D. Iralu
The historical analysis: The very just and legitimate Naga struggle for self determination and independence, launched with clear objectives and gaols and firmly grounded on concrete political and historical facts has now come to a grinding standstill. From 1947 to 1964 (Declaration of Independence to the first Ceasefire) it was a virile movement with clear objectives and goals. It then had a legally established peoples mandated Government called the Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN). This Government in turn was guided by a people’s mandated Constitution called the Yehzabo of Nagaland. The political destiny of the nation was also guided by the legally established Naga National Council (NNC) under able leaders like A.Z Phizo (President) and Th. Muivah (General Secretary) and many other able leaders.
With the exception of some Naga collaborators with Indians who brought an Indian State into Nagaland in 1960, the rest of the Naga population fought on for Naga Independence with one mind and one body. The movement was a throbbing and living organization supported by the people right from the grass root village levels all the way to London where the then President of the NNC had established his headquarters.
A severe blow was however inflicted on the NNC and FGN when the Revolutionary Government was formed on November 2nd 1964 and surrendered to India on August 6, 1973. A still more severe blow was inflicted on the NNC and FGN when, six years after the signing of the Shillong Accord of November 11, 1975, a new socialist form of Government called the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) was formed on January 31, 1980. The NSCN was formed on the allegation that the NNC and the FGN had betrayed the Naga nation through the signing of the Shillong Accord.
Actually, the irony of the Shillong Accord was one where, whereas the Shillong Accord resulted in the release of over six hundred Naga Political prisoners who had been languishing in Indian prisons for six, seven years and whereas the Shillong Accord resulted in the withdrawal of all Indian military operation in Nagaland and also the re-imbursement of over Rs. 3 lacs to villages who had been fined for assisting the national struggle; some of our own leaders using the Shillong Accord as a scapegoat unleashed a reign of terror leading to the deaths of over 2500 Naga souls.
In the subsequent events, something far more terrible and more horrible then the Shillong Accord was unleashed on the total Naga population and the Naga national struggle.
Today, because of all these tragic events, the Naga national struggle has been brought to a crushing standstill with the NNC and FGN unable to make any substantial progress and the NSCN locked in a seemingly deadlocked dialogue with India for the past ten years. Meanwhile the fratricidal killings go unabated with many innocents still falling victims to its suicidal designs. In order to save ourselves from such an internal suicide, we must redefine the goals and objectives of our struggle so that future generation of Nagas will not hold us responsible for destroying our noble national struggle by our own folly.
The socio- political analysis: In this process of analysis and redefining our struggle; let me begin by saying that the Naga freedom struggle is not a revolution. The crux of the issue here is one of invasion by India and Burma. The Naga struggle is therefore a geo- political issue and not an ideological issue. The issue is not one of whether we shall have a Revolutionary Socialist form of government or a Secular Democratic Republic. The issue is how to drive away the invasion and occupational forces from our land and re-establish our freedom, liberty and dignity. Once this is achieved, the Naga public will decide whether we shall have a Socialist form of government or a Democratic one. This issue will be decided through fair and free elections and not through self appointment or terror tactics in the name of Naga nationalism. What form of government the Naga people desire to have can never ever be imposed on the Nagas by a few Marxist indoctrinated individuals from one tribe or even two tribes. Nagas are perhaps the most democratic people (Nation) on earth. And this age old democracy of the Nagas can never be trampled and desecrated by a few so called educated Nagas. In a post Independent Nagaland, if some Nagas want to have a Socialist party in the Tatar Hoho, they should be given full liberty and freedom to do so. However, this truth and fact must be very clear in every Naga head that a few Nagas can never be allowed to impose their Marxist Socialist ideology on Naga democracy while our country is still under foreign invasion and domination.
In the context of the Indo-Naga-Myanmar war, one must understand that wars are fought for different reasons. Firstly, there are religious wars where adherents of our religion try to impose their religion on others within their own nation or even on that of other nations. For example, Hindus and Muslims of India fought many such religious wars among themselves. Today, Muslim extremists are fighting with many other nations in an attempt to establish a Pan-Islamic world.
Then secondly, there are those ideological wars where adherents of a certain political ideological group try to impose their political ideology on others within their own nation or even on other nations. The French, Russian, Chinese and Cambodian revolutions are examples of such wars. Most of these revolutionary wars were fought to topple monarchies in order to establish socialist and communist forms of governments. Presently, Nepal is one of the most recent examples of such a revolution with Cambodia and Vietnam not far behind. In the larger picture, Communist Russia tried to impose a Pan-Communist world during the period of the Cold War era. All such ideological wars and revolutions are bloody wars. To name a few, in Russia, it left 40 million dead, in China, 18 million and in the recent Cambodian revolution 1 million dead.
Then thirdly, there are those geo-political wars which are fought for territorial expansion and imposition of one’s nationality on another. The whole 2nd World War was fought on those lines. For example, Germany, humiliated in the 1st World War, wanted what they called; “breathing spaces” in Poland, Czechoslovakia, France and Russia etc. Japan on the other hand tried to expand their empire into the whole of South-East Asia, while Italy also wanted to expand into Europe.
Besides these three main causes of wars between nations, in some exceptional cases, countries have gone to war even over football matches!
Coming to our own context, the Indo Naga Myanmar war is a geo-political war where India and Burma are trying to expand their territories into our lands which never belonged to them in history. These two countries are trying to occupy our God given lands so that they can exploit our mineral wealth as well as use our land for their own security.
In this act of aggression and invasion, the Naga patriots have been fighting a most honourable and valorous war of self defence against overwhelming odds. In this connection, the true Naga patriot is one who out of reverence for God’s laws and love for one’s own country risks everything to defend Nagaland’s history, sovereignty, honour and future. The universal patriotic phrase “For God and for Country” has been coined to express this patriotic zeal and duty.
In the Bible, King David was one such patriot who, when Goliath challenged the Israelites said: “For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that should defy the armies of the living God” (Isaiah 17:26). Joshua, Gideon, Nehemiah etc were all such God fearing patriots. In the case of us Nagas, I have come across many such God fearing patriots who are still carrying on the fight despite a lifetime of hardship and sacrifice.
However, into this heroic war of self defence, some educated Nagas brought in an ideological warfare and totally sabotaged and also confused the noble war of self defence fought for the love of our country. The resulting confusions that emerged as a result of mixing an ideological war with the war of invasion are as follows:
• 1. Whereas, formerly, the Indo-Naga-Burmese geo-political conflict was correctly denounced as an invasion issue, these new leaders termed the Naga freedom struggle as a “Revolution”.
• 2. Whereas formerly, Naga soldiers were rightly called “Freedom fighters”, these leaders renamed them as “Revolutionary patriots.”
• 3. Whereas formerly, the only enemies that the Naga soldier had to face was the Indian and Burmese soldiers, now the Naga soldier has to fight even his own fellow brothers because these new leaders started killing their own comrades as “Reactionary forces”.
• 4. Anybody who disagreed with their new leadership’s ideology of so called” Correct policy” and “Correct strategy” were mowed down as traitors to the nation. As a consequence, the Naga freedom fighter was now faced with not just two enemies but many enemies even from within.
Total mayhem and confusion overtook the noble national struggle when this ideological warfare was introduced into the geo-political war. Now, what we are doing to one another today is sheer political insanity.
After all, would it not be absolute lunacy on the part of invaded countries like Poland, France, Norway etc. if, in between 1939 to 1945, when their countries were invaded by Germany, these countries started revolutionary wars among themselves over issues of different political ideologies? Surely an ideological war can have no place among a people when a geo-political war of invasion remains unresolved.
Nagas must immediately stop this insane ideological war among ourselves. We must redefine our struggle to its original purpose and reunite so that we can finally achieve our goal of a united free and sovereign independent Nagaland. In this connection, our national objectives and goals are already clearly stated in our Yehzabo. This Yehzabo was fully endorsed by all the Naga tribes way back in January 1956. To disregard or deviate from this Constitution is to let over 200000 Nagas die in vain and bring Nagaland into subjugation of another country.
Therefore, in our struggle for the freedom of our country, we must not allow any Naga individual or small groups to dictate on the whole Naga nation with their personal ambitions of trying to grab political power with terror tactics so that they can rule Nagas and Nagaland. Here, any Naga who, in the name of Naga nationalism is killing any fellow Naga is not a Naga patriot. He is in fact a parasite far worse then the real enemy. The Naga Government and the Naga Army should enrol only soldiers and volunteers who have a love for God and the love for Nagaland and not soldiers and politicians with personal ambitions for political powers.
