C Akanabo
Every right thinking Nagas have expressed their appreciation for the formation of a Core Committee on Naga Political Issue (CCNPI) by the Nagaland state government with the Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio as Chairman and Dy CM and Leader of BJP Legislature Party, Y Patton and Leader of Opposition, TR Zeliang of NPF as Co-Convenors. Nagas are once again reassured that their leaders are committed to pursue the issue in earnest to its logical conclusion. Here is a proposal from the public for your consideration as a way forward to resolve the long drawn issue.
As we know, the Naga national movement has gone through many changes. Right now the contentious Naga issue seems to be stuck on the issue of flag and constitution. So to address these issues, CCNPI as a facilitator can propose to set up a Constituent Assembly of the Nagas. The details could be worked out if the principle is agreed upon by all stake holders and parties involved. Once the question of constituent assembly is solved the issue of flag, I am sure, will be collorary. Save the common interest of India and Naga people, namely, foreign relations, defence, currency and communications, the Nagas should be allowed to declare their full self expression through an Act of Parliament. I am contemplating constitutional savings with the mutually agreed concept of 'shared sovereignty' in mind. It will be merely a courteous ratification of the declared wish of the Naga people even as it was in the case of Indian people during their struggle for independence. The Indian parliament will ratify the wishes of the people as expressed through Nagas freely chosen representatives. The proposed constituent assembly can represent the many interests of the Nagas which is agreeable to all or at least to the majority.
Let me take you some years back in time to refresh our memories in Indian history since we are also dealing with the narrative. In course of their struggle for independence, Indian leaders came to realise that framing a constitution of their own within which the government and people of India were to function is paramount in achieving their goal. The British introduced constitutional reforms in 1861, 1892, 1909, 1919 and 1935 according to their convenient 'timing and pace' always in belated and grudging response to sustained Indian nationalist pressure. The myth successfully purveyed by British administrators and later neo-imperialist scholars that British initiated modern responsible and constitutional government in India is but merely the culmination of the above mentioned constitutional reforms is refuted because of the fact that their concessions, at every stage, fell far short of what Indians were demanding at that time.
I feel we can learn many things from here. No power on earth willingly concedes to demands of the oppressed until the oppressors run out of other options. In 1924 a resolution was introduced in the Central Legislative Assembly by Indian leaders which asked the government to summon a representative Round Table Conference to recommend for the protection of the rights and interests of important minorities, also known as the scheme of a constitution for India. This scheme would be ratified by a newly elected Indian legislature and then sent to the British parliament to be embodied in a statute. A clear cut demand for a constitution and the procedure was thus spelled out for the first time. This resolution came to be known as the National Demand. The British showing their contempt for the National Demand appointed the all-White Simon Commission in November 1927 to recommend further constitutional changes. The Nagas under the banner of the Naga National Council (NNC) submitted a memorandum to this commission stating that Nagas wanted to be left alone on their own as before. However, the Indian leaders condemn the commission. After the failed Simon Commission for constitutional reform, the Indian leaders accepted the challenge to produce a constitution of their own despite their diverse opinions and interests. They came up with a draft constitution which visualized a parliamentary system with full responsible government and joint electorates with time bound reservations of seats for minorities. Boycott of the Simon Commission was followed by mass civil disobedience movement. It was becoming clear that Indians will settle for nothing less than the right to frame their own constitution. The Congress participated in the provincial assembly elections in 1936-37 but made sure that this was not construed as acceptance of the existing constitutional framework. All the Congress provinces passed a resolution and demanded that the Government of India Act, 1935 be repealed and be replaced by a constitution for a free India framed by a Constituent Assembly elected on the basis of adult franchise. In March 1942, in the wake of the British collapse in South-East Asia, Winston Churchill, the prime minister of Britain, announced the dispatch to India of Sir Stafford Cripps for the setting up of the Constituent Assembly.
Story short, after the end of the Great War, a Cabinet Mission arrived in India on 24 March 1946. The Cabinet Mission lastly decided that the newly elected legislative assemblies of the provinces were to elect the members of the Constituent Assembly. The first session of the Constituent Assembly of India began on 9 December 1946. For all practical purposes, the chronicle of independent India began on that historic day. With India becoming independent on 15 August 1947, the Constituent Assembly became a sovereign body. Here it is noteworthy that King George VI was king of India until the constitution of India came into force in 1950.
Sovereignty or shared sovereignty, as agreed upon, can never be a free gift by one nation to another. We have purchased it with the best blood of our nation. At this point of time Indian leaders should be reminded of their history during their fight for right to self determination. We are echoing the same sentiment and spirit with which their future was decided by the will of the people. India today represents that idea. And since the negotiating parties of the Indo-Naga political issue have agreed that sovereignty lies with the people, the only honourable solution could be to allow the people to express themselves through a Constituent Assembly.
Speaking of a constituent assembly in Indian experience, there is the precedence of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The constitution of J&K was not framed by the Indian constituent assembly but by a separate J&K constituent assembly which started its draft from 1951 and completed in 1956. It came into force in 1957. Article 147 of J&K define the relationship between India and the state of J&K. Till 1965 there were two Head of States and two Prime Ministers in Indian system. J&K had its own flag too. The present government has 'abrogated' article 370 of the Indian constitution but the debate of its constitutionality may continue in days to come. My point is, such an arrangement is not unthinkable in Indian democracy. We have Article 260 in the Constitution of India which provides GoI the power to extend its executive, legislative and judiciary power beyond her territory. Nagaland was under Ministry External Affairs (MEA), meaning it was treated as a foreign territory. It was arbitrarily and unilaterally transferred to Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 1972 which is why there is a political dialogue going on now to settle the issue. Taking these facts and circumstances, a demand to set up a separate constituent assembly of the Nagas should not be too much a price to pay for India. In fact it will exhibit the maturity of Indian democracy.
A political overture of this nature will create more space for people's participation in the peace process and bolster the atrophying peace talks. The exercise itself can at least serve as a fulcrum about which the national movement is accelerated and strengthened from its base - the people. Even as a demand or assertion, it has the potential to help consolidate the diverse approaches and give impetus to the negotiation to down play the complex issues and set a new paradigm for early resolution. Envisaging a libertarian polity in our constitution can assuage the fear and circumspection of the people toward the often misconstrued policies of different national political parties or factions today. Magnanimity of the Naga national parties to encourage the people in decision making process and the political will of the government of India to settle the Indo-Naga issue once and for all is the need of the hour. Kuknalim!
