Dr SC Jamir, Former Chief Minister & Governor. (Morung File Photo)
Dimapur, February 17 (MExN): Time has come for the Nagas to wake up from “self-imposed state of hapless inertia,” Dr SC Jamir has stated, saying, “We can no longer afford to remain stuck where and how we are now.”
In a lengthy treatise titled, “Whither-Ward is NAGALAND Moving?” encompassing the Naga’s journey over the years, the former Chief Minister and Governor asserted that it is “time for brutal honesty.”
Commenting on the Naga political talks, Jamir maintained that since the signing of the 1st Ceasefire with the Government of India (GoI) in 1997, the international geopolitical content and dynamics have undergone vast changes and India is a much “stronger and powerful global player” now.
There is “absolutely no chance or possibility” of any sensible foreign country “standing up openly in internationally accredited Forum for the Naga cause of more than seven decades ago,” he pointed out, dismissing any such notion as “wishful thinking and fantasy.”
To this end, the former Chief Minister claimed that final political settlement between the Naga political groups (NPGs) leaders and the GoI would be an honourable one which will give a better and brighter future to the Nagas.
“In order to facilitate this, since the ultimate goal and objective is one and the same, our Underground brethren should, for the sake of the common Naga cause, set aside their personal differences and unite to come up with one voice and one stand for the final ‘Accord’,” he added.
“Also with dignity, the fact should be accepted humbly that within the meaning and framework of honorability, the Nagas can only take, possess, and cherish what through the agreed upon political process, India, the Central Government in Delhi, and the Indian Parliament gives to the Nagas,” he added.
Jamir also maintained that neither “Naga sovereignty nor Integration figure on the body” of both the August 3, 2015 Framework Agreement and November 17 2017 Agreed Position, adding ‘it is understood that the issues are off the negotiation table.’
“This would mean that Nagaland continues to remain as a separate and distinctive administrative and political entity,” he said.
He, therefore, postulated that it would most opportune if during the present tenure of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the final Naga ‘Accord’ is inked and a new Naga journey initiated in 2022, coinciding with the 150th year of the advent of Christianity on Naga soil.
He also pointed out that the members of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly have two pledged “extraordinary formula to help resolve the vex Naga political problem at the earliest” and called the formation of “party-less or opposition-less government” for Naga political solution solemn commitments. Further, they have also made official declaration to vacate their seats to pave the way for the new political dispensation, he claimed.
'State' of affairs
Commenting the present state of affairs, Jamir noted that Nagaland today is mired in a deadly “political quagmire” governed by most number of “governments and authorities, constitutional and extra-constitutional” turning the State into “heaps of dry bones”
The future of the State and its children hijacked by some ruthless monster called corruption, Jamir noted, advocating for confronting head-on and addressing the root causes instead of simply indulging in bombastic rhetoric.
Meanwhile, the Padma Bushan awardee maintained that the Naga political movement carried on against what appeared to be impossible odds in the initial years, propped up the active support of common Naga villagers.
As years went by, however, the Nagas found the “political ‘Manifestos’ soaked in foreign Communist ideology under the garb of ‘Nagaland for Christ’” totally incompatible with their customary and democratic ways of life, he argued.
Launched as a peaceful non-cooperation movement, it tragically turned into “violent armed conflict”, resulting in “unleashing of unparalleled brutality and indescribable suffering to the innocent public,” he added.
Against this background, Jamir asserted that the Naga People’s Convention (NPC) was organised and operationalised and the memorandum was drafted with active dialogue between delegates and representatives of all the Naga tribes.
The Statehood came into being not from the blue, but it was through collective wisdom of the representatives of the 16 tribes of the then Naga Hills of Assam and the Tuensang Frontier Division of NEFA, who unanimously adopted the 16-Point Memorandum that eventually became an ‘Agreement’ with the GoI known as the 16-Point Agreement, he asserted.
Hitting out at those decrying its merits, he claimed that ‘Agreement’ leading to creation of the present State of Nagaland was “not a matter of guesswork, but of mathematical precision” but a “monumental achievement” paving the way for the people of Nagaland to play pivotal role in nation building.
It succeeded in providing a special safeguard for the distinct Naga identity in the Constitution of India under Article 371(A), a unique feature is available only to the state of Nagaland, he underscored.
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