Historically, geographically, culturally, economically as well as politically, there is absolutely no connection whatsoever between the new Indian state Telangana and the 50 years old Nagaland state. However, as I hear and read about Telangana, I cannot help making a comparison between the new state and the 50 years old state. And as I think about the manner in which Telangana has become the 29th state of India, I am once again reminded about the special, unique and extraordinary circumstances under which the state of Nagaland was born 50 years ago. And hence this article:
The demand for a separate state of Telangana is 60 years old. Now Telangana state is a reality but it suffered birth pangs for 60 years. Modern India History tells us that Andhra Pradesh was created in 1956 and that it was the first Indian state to be created on a linguistic basis. However, right from that time itself, the Telangana region did not want to be part of the Andhra state that was carved out. Appeals for a separate Telangana state were made to the then Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru but the prime minister did not take any decision. The agitation for a separate Telangana state intensified in 1969 and a few hundred people were even killed in the agitation.
If Jawaharlal Nehru did not show interest in carving a separate Telangana state, neither did his daughter Indira Gandhi. Though the agitation intensified during her rule, Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister also made it clear that she was not in favor of a separate Telangana state. Thereafter the demand for a separate Telangana state remained practically dormant for over 20 years until 2001.
In the years 2001, K. Chandrasekhara Rao (KCR) floated the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to revive the movement for separate statehood to Telangana. He even went on an indefinite fast in 2009 forcing the central government to announce that the process for formation of Telangana state would be initiated. However, in reaction to this announcement, counter-protests started in Seemandhra forcing the centre to hold consultations with all stake-holders. Thus it took a further five years for the ever elusive Telangana to take birth.
Andhra Pradesh was 275068 sq. km in size (more the 16 times the size of the state of Nagaland). And now if Andhra Pradesh has been bifurcated to create two new states of Telangana and Seemandhra, the two new states would be approximately around 135000 sq km in size (still more than 8 times the size of Nagaland). It has also been revealed that the population of the new Telangana state would be around 3.5 crore and that it would comprise of 10 districts and have 17 Lok Sabha seats and 119 Assembly seats.
In total contrast to the above story and figures of Telangana, Nagaland is only 16579 sq. km in size with 60 Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat. And Nagas got their statehood as early as 1963 despite the fact that Nagas never aspired to be a state within the Indian union. No Nagas ever went on an indefinite fast or faced death, arrest and prosecution demanding statehood within India. (Of course, many Nagas died. But they did not die demanding statehood within India……they died asserting their independence and sovereignty against foreign invasion). Moreover the population of Nagaland is also only about 2 millions (20 Lakhs) which is not even one-seventeenth (1/17th) of that of Telangana.
I do not know what the population of the Telangana region was when it first demanded for full-fledged statehood within the Indian union in the 1950s…..but it must be in terms of crores. But statehood was not given to them anyway. But in the case of the Nagas, the Nagas became the 16th state of the Indian union in 1963 despite the fact that their population was not even 4 Lakhs then.
It is also worth noting that through out the long history of South India; the Telangana people had been some of the most prominent and advanced lot with their own unique history, rich culture and intellectual heritage. Of course, the Nagas (though small in number) also had their own unique history and rich culture. But when it came to the living standards, the Nagas must have been nowhere near the Telugu speaking people in the 1950s and 1960s…or maybe even now. However, despite being still a very backward lot, the Nagas were granted statehood while their much more advanced counterparts in South India were denied the same.
Indeed, if we are to apply the general yardsticks of size, population or living standards, the Nagas did not (from any angle) deserve to be a full-fledged state then or even now. Then how is it that the Nagas became the 16th state of the Indian union as early as 1963 despite never asking for it and despite being very small in number as well as area. Let’s take a look:
Like I mentioned in some of my previous articles, I still hold the view that Nagaland statehood within the Indian union became a reality only because of the Naga political movement. In other words, if there had been no Naga political movement, there would have been no Naga statehood. The Nehru government approved the creation of Nagaland as the 16th state of the Indian union in order to placate the Nagas and in order to present a picture to the outside world that the Nagas had willingly chosen to be a part of the Indian union. Indeed, the special and unique status of Nagaland becomes very evident when we recollect the fact that Nagaland was placed under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after its creation (I think it was only in 1972 that Nagaland was shifted from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and placed under the Ministry of Home Affairs). All these make one to realize how intense, strong, noble and genuine the Naga national movement must have been that the Indian government even agreed to make the Nagas a full-fledged state in India even though the concept defies all logic and reason.
The constitution of India says that a new state can be created if the union parliament decides that such a creation is needed in the interest of the nation. The constitution further goes on to say that the union parliament need not necessarily consult the concerned state or states for the creation of any new states. However, India is a land of multi-languages, multi-religions, multi-races, multi-cultures and multi- philosophies. Therefore, whenever India decides to create a new state, it has always resulted in high dramas and unprecedented political tamashas.
However, contrary to this usual phenomenon, the decision of the Nehru government to create a separate full-fledged statehood for the Nagas did not create much ruckus in the parliament – other than the intense debate that erupted over the name that was to be given to the new 16th state of the Indian union. Some members of the Indian parliament suggested that the new state should be called “Naga Pradesh” while some others came up with the name “Naga Province”. Some of them objected the name “Nagaland” on the ground that it was too foreign and that it sounded more like a nation instead of an Indian state. However, Nehru decided to name the new state as “Nagaland” as it was what the Nagas wanted.
Thus unlike the creation of other Indian states, the creation of Nagaland was not of much headache to the Indian government because of the prevailing situation that had surfaced out of the Nagas’ assertion of total independence and sovereignty. Rather the Indian government saw it as an escape route to deliberately sideline the Nagas’ political asser tion. And the one event that had an immediate effect in the birth of the Naga statehood was probably the news of Phizo reaching London. It is said that the news of Phizo reaching London caused great shock and dismay to the Indian Prime Minister Nehru. After Phizo landed in London, Nehru must have thought that the chances of foreign nations or an international organization intervening in the Indo-Naga conflict were very high and therefore in order to avoid any untoward situation, Nehru created an escape route for himself by creating Nagaland state to give a picture to the outside world that the Nagas had willingly joined the Indian union.
However, the episode certainly did not stop there for the Indian government. After Nagaland became the 16th state of the Indian union, slowly but steadily a situation arose wherein the Indian government could not avoid granting statehood to even the neighbors of the Nagas like the Meities, Mizos, Garos and Khasis, Arunachalis etc. Because the logic that erupted was this, “if even the Nagas could be a full-fledged state within the Indian union, why can’t the Meities, the Mizos, Garos and Khasis, Arunachalis also have the same status?” In this way, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura were also born in the 1970s and 1980s giving birth to the so-called north-eastern states of India. Thus, in a way, even though the creation of Nagaland in 1963 was an escape route for the Indian government, it was also certainly a move which caught the Indian government on the wrong foot.
Thus, even though many a times we speak of Nagaland as just another state within the Indian union, for one who knows these histories, it is not difficult to see the specialty and originality of Nagaland even as a state in the Indian union. The state of Nagaland came into existence as a result of the 16th Point Agreement signed between the Nehru government and the NPC (Naga People’s Convention). Thus, the state of Nagaland is the product of a political agreement and this is what makes the Nagaland state very special, unique and totally different from all the other states of the Indian union (including the new Telangana state and all the other so-called north eastern states)……….
