Gen (Retd) Viyalie Metha
Kedahge, Federal Government of Nagaland
Dear countrymen,
First of all I give thank to the Almighty God for sustaining us once again to celebrate this momentous historic day of our Nation. Dear fellow citizens of the republic of Nagaland let us retrospect and clearly understand the legal action that were laid down by our past leaders at the right time for the bright future of our Nation. Our pioneer leaders declared the age-old Naga Independence on the 14th of August 1947, the Plebiscite of 1951, the total non-participation of India’s first General elections imposed on the Nagas and the establishment of the Federal Government of Nagaland on the 22nd of March, 1956 at Parashen in Rengma Region. Despite our rightful proclamation and stand of the Nagas, great neighbor India invaded our country; and committing the act of aggression on Nagaland and continues till today. Her forceful occupation of Nagaland is therefore an unimaginable. Nevertheless, we have been defending our God-given national rights by sacrificing our lives and our all and shall continue to do so.
The Indo-Naga issue has marred our relationship with India due to her act of aggression upon our nation. We had to fight a defensive war in which many lives have been lost on both sides until the bilateral Ceasefire of 1964 between the Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN), the Government of India (GOI). However, rather than honoring the Ceasefire India created further turmoil of unimaginable dystopian proportions within our nation. In spite of the trouble, we have remained true and steadfast to our commitment as a sovereign people and nation to live as honorable neighbors with goodwill toward India. The answer to the question as to why India aggressed upon Nagaland and continued to occupy our nation is multi-faceted and contextual. India invaded Nagaland because of her fear and insecurity of her powerful neighbor China and because she had no confidence in the Nagas being able to govern themselves effectively: an assumption borne out of her deep rooted caste system (which still plagues her society) and her myopic perception of Nagas as tribals. Therefore, when India invaded Nagaland the Naga civilians were treated inhumanly. Thus, the supposedly great nation India transgressed upon the right of another country due to her fears, insecurities and her caste based myopic cultural worldview.
Today India continues to occupy our sovereign nation. Why? It is because of geopolitics and the play of money. It is because India still feels insecure and fearful of her powerful competitor China in the spheres of economy, military and regional power struggle. Our sovereign nation has become a regional playground of geopolitics with hollow promises of wealth and prosperity which even when fulfilled will just be crumbs compared to other nations who are at the helm. Another reason why India still illegally occupies Nagaland is because of her military. Our country has become both a training ground for covert and overt operations and a moneymaking machine for India’s military.
India’s military intelligence and Research Analysis Wing (RAW) plants dissension within our country while they pretentiously seem to calm things down by using other agencies and so called “civil society organizations.” Nagaland is in such a situation that even if India is willing to withdraw; her military may refuse to do so by giving false account and reports. This is because Nagaland has become a money making machine for her military. By the farcical and invalid assumption that Nagaland is part of India, Government of India has effectively implemented the so called ‘Armed Forces Special Powers Act’ and thereby ridiculously placing Nagaland under the term ‘Disturbed Area’, a nation which they themselves have disturbed. Under these circumstances India’s military gets extra perks and allowances and also gets the chance to dabble their hands at illegal trade of drugs, gold, precious stones, areca nuts, timber etc., running into billions of Rupees.
This has sometimes created rivalry amongst them leading to assassinations and ambushes by using the drug cartels or the so called political groups/factions that her intelligence agencies themselves have set up. Besides her military and other agencies, Oil companies under the patronage of government of India and her agencies are now clandestinely venturing well within our borders to extract oil and natural gas without the knowledge of the Nagas at large. Moreover, today India is meddling in the civil unrest of Myanmar undermining our very existence in Myanmar occupied Naga territories by encouraging and assisting Myanmarese ethnic minorities to disrupt, divide and claim our lands. Meanwhile, India is attempting to build a fence in the middle of Nagaland claiming it to be the boundary between India and Myanmar. These are dangerous developments that will further escalate the Indo-Naga issue as these are acts of thievery and daylight robbery of a sovereign nation’s mineral wealth and its territories. A thief ought to be treated like a thief and therefore will be treated so.
How I wish I could one day give a speech befitting India as an honorable and dependable neighbor rather than a nation which has aggressed upon our nation and continues to shamelessly occupy it, especially on a day like today. This occupation has stunted and stagnated our growth and progression as a nation: it is in India’s hand to clear herself off of this stigma as an aggressor so that we can live as honorable neighbors.
While presenting a brief picture of our history and the present context that we live in today, it is in our hands to steadfastly stand as a sovereign nation and do the needful for our country. We must continue to march forward with grit and honor no matter how difficult our journey as a sovereign nation maybe. Today, by virtue of the historic establishment of our Republic, the Federal Government of Nagaland will take into perspective the above-mentioned circumstances and take serious cognizance on these issues which impedes our sovereign nation. Too many lives have been lost in the defense of our country and those of us who are living today, both old and young, ought to bequeath the coming generations a legacy worthy to be carried into the distant future. I implore you to keep in mind that our inheritance belongs to us and to none will it be surrendered. This should be our legacy. I therefore, call upon the young Naga people to come forward and shoulder the responsibility of our Nation and take it forward.
God bless Nagaland and Happy Republic Day!
Kuknalim.
