Global Naga Forum draws Assam CM’s attention to the plight of Rengma Naga people in Assam
Dimapur, June 14 (MExN): The Global Naga Forum (GNF) on Monday reached out to Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, drawing his attention to the plight of the Rengma Nagas in Assam.
The Forum welcomed the move of the Assam government and the Central government in actively pursuing conflict resolution with ethnic groups in Karbi Anglong through the creation of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council (KAATC). It expressed belief that that it would have a positive impact on bringing peace in the region.
However, the GNF urged the Assam CM to take heed of the history of the Rengma Nagas in Assam even as they work with the KAATC.
In a letter to Sarma on June 14, the Forum’s Convenor Chuba Ozukum and Co-Convenor Dr Rosemary Dzuvichu noted that modern evolution of Rengma Naga people in Assam started in April 1841 with the declaration of Rengma Hills by the then British administration. In 1866, the Rengma Hills became a part of the newly created Naga Hills and the British administered both the Rengma Hills and the Naga Hills under one administrative unit till 1898 with Samaguting (now Chümoukedima in Nagaland) as the administrative headquarters. Then, in 1898, the Rengma Hills were transferred to the adjoining Nowgaon and Sibsagar Districts without the consent of the Rengma Nagas by the Chief Commissioner of Assam, the Forum claimed.
It further stated that with the beginning of the demand for an autonomous district status for the current Karbi Anglong district in 1947, Karbi leaders including Samson Sing Engti and Khorsing Terang approached Rengma Naga leaders with a plan to collectively seek out the creation of an autonomous district, with the assurance that the Rengmas and Karbis would be equal partners in the pursuit.
With an agreement to name the proposed district as the Rengma and Mikir Hills district, the Rengma Nagas issued a ‘No Objection’ certificate. “However, when district status was attained in 1951, it was renamed as the Mikir Hills district, contentiously leaving out the Rengma name,” the GNF stated.
“The contemporary history of the Rengma Nagas in Assam has accordingly been characterized by their inequitable and unjust treatment by colonial powers and by circumstances prevalent in the post-colonial jostles for territory and autonomy by various ethnic groups,” it added.
“Despite all this, the Rengma Nagas have consistently sought to assert their historical and political rights over their ancestral lands in Assam,” the GNF emphasized.
The GNF hoped that sidelining of the historical and political rights of the Rengmas would stay in the past, and not be repeated in the present and future.
As such, the Forum urged the Assam CM to recall that the Rengma Nagas in Assam are peace-loving citizens and have not pursued conflict with other ethnic groups under the so-called Karbi Anglong areas. It noted that “the Rengma Nagas in Assam are dependent on the outcome of the ongoing Indo-Naga political dialogue for some way forward in their own journey towards greater autonomy, whether they are integrated with other Naga-inhabited areas under one administrative roof, or through an Autonomous Territorial council for Nagas in Assam.”
Emphasizing “we have all been gifted with the privilege of hindsight, the GNF reiterated, the need for equity and justice for all groups of people.” It expressed hope that the Assam CM would do all in his power to ensure the same for the Rengma Nagas.
