If you’re in Delhi on August 15, it’s the day when everything shuts down and the Prime Minister talks from the ramparts of Red Fort. We celebrate it as the day the British finally left India. But other parts of the country are not marked by such warm, sentimental feelings. People in Nagaland, for instance, feel their land was forcibly occupied by India through the military.
Officially, the state government celebrates Independence Day but very few Nagas show up for an occasion to be celebrated by “Indians”. For some of them, reminders of India are bitter.
“The Indian national anthem and flag evoke pictures of army atrocities, including desecration of churches, torture and rape. These atrocities will be hard to erase for generations to come even if Jana Gana Mana is sung millions of times on Naga soil,” says Shevoh, a Chakhesang (Naga tribe) village elder.
The Nagas were the first in the Northeast to take up arms against India.
Nagaland attained statehood in 1963 but that the arrangement was far from being satisfactory to Nagas as a whole is evident from their continued armed struggle. They are not emotionally integrated with the mainstream even today. India continues to remain alien them.
“Nagas declared their independence a day ahead of August 15 and so, for them
solution of the Naga issue is uppermost in their minds. The national anthem fails to capture their emotion as they do not know the meaning of the song,” says Akito Sema.
“Patriotism cannot be forced down the throat of any individual or people,” says an intellectual who prefers anonymity.
“I don’t mind celebrating the day but it inspires no patriotism,” says Wabang Longkumer, a Naga youth. “The Naga kids never feel connected with India.” The feeling of alienation may be relatively less among tribals in other states of the Northeast. But like the Nagas, few are enthused by Independence Day or Republic Day.
The central Naga insurgent group NSCN (Isak-Muivah) has been engaged in peace talks with the Centre for the last 13 years but a solution eludes them. The demands include sovereignty for Nagaland and unification of the Naga-dominated areas of three neighbouring states.
The Centre has ruled out sovereignty and suggested talks centred on “grant of greater autonomy”. On Greater Nagaland, the Centre has said state boundaries cannot be altered without consensus, but agreed that Naga aspirations cannot be ignored either.
The Nagas offered various suggestions, from a referendum in the Naga-inhabited areas to the Centre accepting the right of Nagas to live together and later chalking out a mechanism for implementation. But to some observers it seems like an exercise in death by attrition from the Centre.
— prasantamaz@rediffmail.com