The 61st Republic Day speech of Gen. (Retd) Viyalie Metha Kedahge, Federal Government of Nagaland Date: Urra, Chedema, Nagaland, March 22, 2016
Fellow Countrymen, As we gather here today to celebrate the 61st anniversary of the founding of our Federal republic, let us all give thanks to God for His faithfulness in all the trials and adversities that the nation had faced in the past six decades. In the history of nations, the founding of a nation's republic is always a joyous occasion celebrated in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility. But in our case, the founding of our government was 'done amidst the sound of gunfire, bombs, destructions and deaths. This became the reality, because though we had declared our independence on 14th August 1947; before we could establish n our government with goodwill to all our neighbors, Indian troops started to invade our country from 1954 onwards. As proof of these facts, I would like to quote B.N. Mullik who was then, the Director of the Indian Intelligence Bureau. Mullik had 'written thus: "Troops moved into Tuensang by October 1955, and the war with the Nagas started from then." (B. N. Mullik, My years with Nehru p.308)
Here it must be noted by every government on earth that it was not Naga troops moving into India; but Indian troops moving into Tuensang Nagaland, that caused the indo-Naga conflict and compelled us to establish our Government amidst our own blood and our tears. This tragic tragedy befell our nation at the stage of its birth because these invading Indian troops burnt our whole country side into ashes. But whatever adversities our nation had to face at its birth, the founding members of our nation nevertheless laid down the basic infrastructure of our newly established Government. Though on the run and always relentlessly pursued by the Indian troops, our leaders from both the then British district of the Naga Hills and the then Free Nagaland of the British Lin-administered territories joined together and established our Federal Government on the historic day of March 22, 1956.
Based on our national polity with its diverse customs and traditions, our national leaders laid down a unique system of governance where every region was given autonomy for conducting their own regional affairs. This was achieved in a way where, besides the Central Government of Nagaland embodied by the Tatar Hoho (Central Parliament), Regional Leacy Hohos (Regional Legislative Assemblies) with their own Regional Executives and Sub-Regional Committees were also established. The various regions were also empowered to establish their own Regional Courts and Sub Regional courts right down to the Village Courts. This system of governance was evolved from the traditional village sovereignty which was a unique feature of the pure form of Naga Democracy. Naga democracy is a system, where every village was a Sovereign Democratic Republic. And these are the foundations upon which our Sovereign Democratic Republic was established in 1956.
In the present changing world where centralization of political power is nullifying the individual's right to freedom and liberty, our people must take the utmost caution against all alien political ideologies that are threatening to overtake our Naga system of pure democracy.
