Most respected Naga Brothers and Sisters, I sincerely thank Almighty God for giving me this humble opportunity to share my thoughts with the honourable people of the Naga Nation for the very first time, as the President of the Naga National Council to reaffirm the dignity of our people on this Naga Plebiscite Day.
May 16, 1951 has gone down as the proudest hour in the Political History of every Naga with a true sense of our ancestral honour when we affirmed our moral right to remain free at whatever cost. This was the day when the Naga people made the greatest momentous decision for our own National fate through this all important Referemdum. History clearly records that the Nagas, under a united banner of the Naga National Council (NNC) had dared to declare their Independence on 14th August 1947, one day ahead of the Indian people but that this brave act alone was not enough. It was necessary for the Nagas to register the final will of the Nagas in no uncertain terms and therefore NNC conducted a plebiscite to confirm the declaration of Naga Independence and their moral right to defend their declaration at any cost. The true Nagas of that generation overwhelmingly voted for Independence with a 99.9% endorsement. Thus the fate of the Nagas people was sealed for all times to come. This was truly the glorious moment of success for Naga Democracy untainted by individual greed for money. The irony lies in the people of India and the Government of India claiming to be the biggest democracy in the world showing scant honourable respect for the democratic rights of the Nagas.
The real test for the Naga sentiment was well and truly tested during the first Indian General Election in 1952, where the Government of India took it for granted that the Nagas were also Indians and Nagaland was also a part of India and extended their election in Nagaland. But not a single Naga cast a single vote in the Indian election and the empty election boxes were taken back to India! This was what the Nagas of that generation proved what we were all about. Nagas were given their democratic right to exercise and the Nagas emphatically exercised their democratic right saying that they were not Indians and had nothing to do with it. Were they not right? Yet this clear stand of the Nagas was ignored by the Indian Government and rather than accept this truth India instead decided to invade Nagaland! Government of India was clearly aware that they cannot defeat the Nagas by democratic means. So they invaded Nagaland in the later part of 1954 without any provocation.
The choice for the Nagas: Though the Naga people had declared their Independence on 14th August 1947, they did not set up their Government so as not to provoke India to crush the nascent Nation on any pretext or excuse. How wise were our Naga leaders then. But when the Government of India invaded Nagaland, the choice for the Nagas was either to surrender or resist the aggressors even at the cost of a crishing defeat in the hands of the mighty Indians. They chose to resist the aggressors at any cost as mandated by the 1951 Plebiscite. It had given the Nagas a moral strength to make that right decision.
It was the circumstances that caused Nagas to set up their own Government, The Federal Republic Government of Nagaland (FGN) only in March 22, 1956, ten years after the declaration of our Independence and started actual War of Resistance against the Indians on being provoked beyond honourable tolorence. Nagas did not willingly start the war!
Wrong approach to the problem: While there was a heavy fighting going on between the Nagas Resistance force and the Indian Agressesor troops , the Government of India, instead of talking to the Federal Government of Nagaland, their main rival, the Govt. Of India initiated, financed and gave full protection to the so-called "Naga People's Convention" and later on entered into a settlement with their on brainchild and created a State within Indian Constitution ans set up the present puppet Nagalans State Government within Naga made Nagaland. This wrong approach on the part of thw GoI made the conflict more deeper and complicated. This has become the main huedle to solve the issue since it was the making of the Government of India, it is up to them to remove obstacle and solve the matte. The more it is delayed, the more it will hurt the Indians than the Nagas.
We have suffered the injustice for too long years! It is time to redefine our identity by starting the process of speaking the truth and by calling a spade a spade without reservation. I call upon the Nagas to come out of their present selfish comfort zone and think for the future of our children. Why should they bask on the shade of the past historical events made by their forefathers but never find the courage to defend, protect by sacrificing their lives and their service. But enjoying the works of Criminals and anti-Nationals! Have the Nagas lost all sense of honour or no longer have any conscience?
I also call on the present Naga National Workers to unite or your suffering and sacrifices may come to nothing.
I am more than prepared to give way to any honest honourable Naga leader that can cement the Nagas on a real honourable course that would yield an honourable result for us all. Nagas must come back to square one and start afresh all over again. This is a clarion call to all honourable Nagas to come together under one banner and register our honourable existence to the world for all time to come as the Plebiscite 1951 intended!
Thank you all. May God bless us all. KUKNALIM
General (Rtd) Thenoselie M. Keyho President, Naga National Council of Nagaland
