Describe about Nagas revolt
Answers
In the run-up to Indian independence Nagas presented their own case for independence and when Assam (with other Indian provinces) was granted a large measure of self-rule in 1937, the Naga areas were under direct British administration. In World War II Nagas aided the British and harassed the Japanese. The Nagas set up the Naga National Council (NNC) to discuss matters of future status and in 1947 an NNC delegation led by Z. A. Phizo went to Delhi to press for Naga independence, a demand that was refused by Nehru, although he stated that autonomy for the Nagas would be considered. Therefore the NNC declared unilateral independence in August 1947 (at the time of Indian and Pakistani independence), although this was ignored by the outside world. However the Governor of Assam held talks with NNC leaders in 1948 and reached a nine-point agreement with them which recognized “the right of Nagas to develop themselves according to their freely elected wishes” although the agreement could be extended or negotiated after 10 years. The Nagas interpreted this as giving them the right to opt out of the Indian Union after 10 years. This was not the interpretation of the Indians however, and in practice they treated the nine-point agreement as a dead letter.
The Nagas again declared independence in January 1950 after they had conducted their own plebiscite which showed an almost unanimous vote in favour but this was not recognized by the Indian government which gave the Naga Hills the status of part of the tribal areas of Assam. In 1952 Nehru himself visited the Naga Hills but refused to meet the NCC while he was there or to receive their demands, and the Nagas were suspected of being manipulated by foreigners who wished to break up the Indian union. Soon after, the Baptist missionaries were expelled from the Naga areas.
The Nagas then launched a campaign of civil disobedience, similar to that used to achieve Indian independence, withdrawing from schools and the administration and refusing to pay taxes. The NNC leaders were arrested, the 16 tribal councils — all under the control of the NCC — were abolished and armed police and, later, the Indian army, were moved into the area. In 1956 the NCC proclaimed the establishment of a Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN) with its own constitution and Naga Home Guard. From 1956 to 1958 a bitter guerrilla war was conducted in the Naga Hills, with alleged atrocities on both sides. According to government figures 1,400 Nagas were killed against 162 Indians. Nagas and others have alleged that the Indian forces engaged in torture, rape and murder, burned villages and destroyed crops and while not all of these reports can be substantiated (because of restricted access to independent observers) it does appear that many violations did take place.
Divisions began to emerge in the Naga movement with the formation of the Naga People’s Convention led by Dr Imkongliba Ao, which favoured Indian statehood as a practical alternative to complete independence, and this received a more favourable response in Delhi, although the new state of Nagaland — at that time the smallest state in India with an area of 15,360 square kilometres and a population of 350,000 — came into being only in 1963. But the war continued with the Indian army using counter-insurgency tactics of rehousing villagers away from their villages in order to separate them from the insurgents. Phizo of the NNC had managed to reach London where his efforts on behalf of the Nagas began to attract world attention and sympathy, forcing the Indian government to let some journalists visit and report on Nagaland.
Some Nagas, while supporting the ideal of independence, nevertheless argued that armed conflict against the full power of the Indian state could only lead to suffering for Nagas and ultimate defeat, and that resistance should be on the political plane, with the search for maximum autonomy within the Indian Union. The Naga Peace Council, a continuation of the body which had brought about the ceasefire of the 1960s, made contact with the underground forces. The result was the Shillong Accord signed between the governor and the representatives of the FGN in November 1975. The provisions of the Accord stated that the signatories accepted the binding extent of the Indian constitution, that weapons would be surrendered to the Peace Council, that security operations would be suspended and that the curfew would be lifted. This Accord reflected the strong desire for peace within Nagaland but it was not accepted by all of the Naga resistance; Phizo in London repudiated it as did the Chinese-influenced Alle command led by J. H. Muivah based in Burma, which introduced a new ideological note into the formerly heavily Christian Naga movement.