Kohima, May 25 (MExN): Naga National Council (NNC) president Senka Ao has stepped down from active service at the age of 88, urging the younger generation to carry forward the Naga political movement with “courage, conviction and unwavering dedication” until the right to self-determination is recognised.
In a farewell address, Ao expressed gratitude to God for sustaining him through his decades-long involvement in the Naga national movement and reflected on his years of service in the NNC and the Naga Army.
“I joined the NNC in 1963,” Ao said, recalling the period when “the resistance between the Nagas and the occupational forces was at its fiercest.”
He also recounted his first “Alee Mission” to East Pakistan in 1963 for training as a young captain in the Naga Army and said faith in God helped him endure the difficult years of conflict.
Ao said he returned to Nagaland on August 17, 1964, and continued serving the “national cause with renewed commitment.”
During the Indo-Naga ceasefire period, he said he witnessed “history firsthand” at the Khensa Peace Talk Camp in Mokokchung, where he served as second-in-command of the Naga Army in 1965.
Describing the Naga political issue as “spiritual, historical and moral,” Ao said he remained resolute in the hope that “what rightfully belongs to the Nagas shall one day be realized”.
Reflecting on the prolonged Naga movement, he questioned how “a small and numerically limited people like the Nagas” had withstood “the might of a vast and powerful nation like India for more than seventy years.”
“The answer does not lie in material or physical strength. It lies in the providence and protection of God, in the justness of our cause, and in our inherent and inalienable right to self-determination,” he said.
Ao also expressed concern over what he described as growing social divisions and moral decline within Naga society, attributing it partly to “negative influences absorbed from foreign cultures and systems”.
While acknowledging progress in education, healthcare, infrastructure and technology, he cautioned against losing the values of honesty, integrity and strong moral character traditionally associated with the Naga people.
Ao said he had retired from active national service in 1974 but was later appointed vice president of the NNC on April 11, 2016, at Yoruba village.
He added that he was entrusted with the office of president of the NNC in 2020 and served alongside Zhopra Vero, Kedahge of the Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN).
“Now, having reached the age of 88 year and owing to advancing age and the natural course of life, I now step down from active service,” he said.
Calling on Nagas to remain united and steadfast in principle, Ao said there was “no alternative path” to achieving the aspirations of the Naga people except through adherence to the movement’s “foundational principles.”
He urged the people to uphold what he termed the “historical pillars” of the Naga political movement, including the memorandum to the Simon Commission, the declaration of Naga independence on August 14, 1947, and the Naga plebiscite of 1951.
“These are not mere historical references; they are the enduring cornerstones of our collective identity and political legitimacy,” he said.
