Naga Movement
HISTORY IN DETAIL
Nagaland can be called the epicenter of insurgency in north-eastern India. The roots of the Naga separatism go back to the formation of Naga Club in 1918 at Kohima. The objective of this Naga Club was to represent Naga Interests to the British Government.
By that time, a clear picture of what later was known as Naga Nationalism had not appeared.
1929: The Nagas submitted a memorandum to the Simon Commission that visited Nagaland in 1929. Via this memorandum, they requested the British Government to leave the Nagas as free people and not to include them within the Indian Union.
1935: One of the results of these efforts was that the Naga Areas were declared as Special Backward Area and later the Excluded Area status in
The above amendment in the constitution gave the Nagas best of two worlds viz. a complete self-determination for themselves, as much or as little administrative isolation from the rest of India as they wish, and the backing of India of which their country is essentially a geographical entity.
Shillong Accord
An agreement was reached by the Indian Government and the NNC in the year 1975. This came to be known as the Shillong Accord. Via the Shillong Accord, rebels had to accept the Constitution of India without condition, surrender arms and renounce the demand for secession.
But, some leaders in the NNC called as total betrayal including Isak Chishi Swu, Th Muivah and Khaplang. This led to the formation of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland or the NSCN in the late 1970s under the leadership of Isak Chishi Swu, Thuingaleng Muivah and Khaplang. It started an underground Naga Federal government having both Civil and Military
It is active not only in Nagaland but also in the Naga-inhabited areas of Arunachal, Manipur and even Myanmar.
Demand for Nagalim & State Response
The Nagas under the NSCN insisted on their sovereignty by demanding the creation of a Greater Nagaland or Nagalim consisting of all the Naga inhabited areas of neighboring Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and some parts of Myanmar which it considers to be the rightful homeland of the Nagas.
The map of “Greater Nagalim” has about 1,20,000 sq km, while the state of Nagaland consists of 16,527 sq km..
According to the NSCN, Nagalim has been subdivided by the Government of India into four different administrative units: Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Nagaland. Likewise, they claim that Myanmar too has parts of Nagalim and has divided it into two administrative units of Kachin State and Sagaing division. Thus, If Nagalim is established, it threatens to include large chunks of territories of three neighboring States, Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, along with portions of Myanmar. The claims have always kept Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh wary of a peace settlement that might affect their