Half a century has passed since the 16 Point Agreement was signed in 1961.Going back into history, in 1961, Nagaland was a wasteland of burnt villages and broken lives as more than 53000 Indian troops moved into Nagaland in 1955 and occupied almost every Naga village with an army outpost. After the 1957 Amnesty offer, most villagers came back to their burnt villages only to be again herded into the concentration camps of 1957-58. By 1960, most of the villages had been hastily rebuilt. But the war was still going on in all its fury. And in the midst of all these mayhem and suffering, The Naga People’s Convention delegates met the Indian delegates on July 27, 1960 with their 16 Point Agreement draft and subsequently Nagaland became a fully fledged state under the Constitution of India in 1961. This extraordinary state with only a few lacks of people was even given a special safeguard called Article 371A.
Historical facts behind the Naga People’s Convention and the 16 Point Agreement:
In reviewing Naga political history, it must clearly be remembered that in the mid 1940’s when India was being given her independence from Colonial Britain and Nagas were also demanding the same independence, there were no two Naga political bodies called the NNC and the NPC with the NNC calling for violence and the NPC opposing that call. This kind of historical presentation is a complete distortion of historical facts. The actual historical facts are one where from Feb 1946 (Formation of the NNC) to March 1956, the whole Naga nation solidly stood together to affirm their sovereignty and their independence. This solid stand has its roots in the submission of the Naga memorandum to the British Simon Commission of 1929. As for the NPC, it came into existence only ten years later in March 1956 under the guidance of S.M. Dutt the then Deputy Director of the I.B. Shillong (For details, see “My Years with Nehru”; B.N Mulik, p310). Thus the formation of the NPC was only after the 53000 Indian troops had moved into Nagaland from Oct 1955. This was after Nagaland was burnt to ashes with hundreds of thousand perishing in the holocaust. As for the members of the NPC who later signed the 16 Point Agreement, many of them in fact, actively participated in carrying the Plebiscite papers to their respective villages and ranges, when the Naga National Plebiscite was conducted in May,1951.(I know these facts from their own admissions to me but I am not giving names here).
As to how the NPC was conceived and organized by the Indian Intelligence Bureau, Mulik went on to write: “Dutt conceived the brilliant idea of mobilizing those members of the NNC Executive Council who had broken away from Phizo… and convening an all tribal conference of the Nagas with their help. Dutt was fully supported by us in this move and I personally kept the Prime Minister and the Home Minister informed and they were also quite taken up with this idea and wanted this to be done. This conference was to be called at Jakhama in the Naga Hills District in the beginning of March 1956. It was also planned that this conference would depose Phizo from the Presidentship of the NNC and denounce the Federal Government…” (For fuller details; read Mulik’s book as well as “The Naga Saga” p15-19)
That the NPC and the 16 Point agreement brought some benefits to the Nagas in the past 50 years cannot be denied. However it also cannot be denied that had the NPC not interfered in the NNC affairs, Nagas may be free and independent today with the help of other neighbor nations like China etc and be ten times economically and politically more advanced than what we are under India today.
As for article 371A and all its’ so called special provisions and protections; were the NPC members not aware of the then prevailing Acts and Regulations like the Assam Maintenance of Public Order Act 1953, Assam Disturbed Area Act 1955, The Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958, Nagaland Regulation Act 1962 etc which were not withdrawn from Nagaland then or even now? These Acts and regulations took away from the Nagas much more than what ARTCLE 371A gave to the Nagas. In fact it took away even Naga rights to life and existence as both the Disturbed Area Act and the AFSPA sanctioned the right of the Indian soldier to even shoot Nagas to death even on mere suspicion. On top of this, the Assam maintenance of public order Act and the Nagaland Regulation Act gave unchallengeable authority to the Governor of Nagaland to uproot any Naga village from any place to any other place.
What then is so special about Article 371 A? Didn’t the Naga Peoples Convention members who signed the 16 Point agreement understand these legal nullification of Naga rights to life and land? After all the signatories were then the educated cream of the Naga society with some of them even possessing Llb degrees!
Historical facts behind the Naga People’s Convention and the 16 Point Agreement:
In reviewing Naga political history, it must clearly be remembered that in the mid 1940’s when India was being given her independence from Colonial Britain and Nagas were also demanding the same independence, there were no two Naga political bodies called the NNC and the NPC with the NNC calling for violence and the NPC opposing that call. This kind of historical presentation is a complete distortion of historical facts. The actual historical facts are one where from Feb 1946 (Formation of the NNC) to March 1956, the whole Naga nation solidly stood together to affirm their sovereignty and their independence. This solid stand has its roots in the submission of the Naga memorandum to the British Simon Commission of 1929. As for the NPC, it came into existence only ten years later in March 1956 under the guidance of S.M. Dutt the then Deputy Director of the I.B. Shillong (For details, see “My Years with Nehru”; B.N Mulik, p310). Thus the formation of the NPC was only after the 53000 Indian troops had moved into Nagaland from Oct 1955. This was after Nagaland was burnt to ashes with hundreds of thousand perishing in the holocaust. As for the members of the NPC who later signed the 16 Point Agreement, many of them in fact, actively participated in carrying the Plebiscite papers to their respective villages and ranges, when the Naga National Plebiscite was conducted in May,1951.(I know these facts from their own admissions to me but I am not giving names here).
As to how the NPC was conceived and organized by the Indian Intelligence Bureau, Mulik went on to write: “Dutt conceived the brilliant idea of mobilizing those members of the NNC Executive Council who had broken away from Phizo… and convening an all tribal conference of the Nagas with their help. Dutt was fully supported by us in this move and I personally kept the Prime Minister and the Home Minister informed and they were also quite taken up with this idea and wanted this to be done. This conference was to be called at Jakhama in the Naga Hills District in the beginning of March 1956. It was also planned that this conference would depose Phizo from the Presidentship of the NNC and denounce the Federal Government…” (For fuller details; read Mulik’s book as well as “The Naga Saga” p15-19)
That the NPC and the 16 Point agreement brought some benefits to the Nagas in the past 50 years cannot be denied. However it also cannot be denied that had the NPC not interfered in the NNC affairs, Nagas may be free and independent today with the help of other neighbor nations like China etc and be ten times economically and politically more advanced than what we are under India today.
As for article 371A and all its’ so called special provisions and protections; were the NPC members not aware of the then prevailing Acts and Regulations like the Assam Maintenance of Public Order Act 1953, Assam Disturbed Area Act 1955, The Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958, Nagaland Regulation Act 1962 etc which were not withdrawn from Nagaland then or even now? These Acts and regulations took away from the Nagas much more than what ARTCLE 371A gave to the Nagas. In fact it took away even Naga rights to life and existence as both the Disturbed Area Act and the AFSPA sanctioned the right of the Indian soldier to even shoot Nagas to death even on mere suspicion. On top of this, the Assam maintenance of public order Act and the Nagaland Regulation Act gave unchallengeable authority to the Governor of Nagaland to uproot any Naga village from any place to any other place.
What then is so special about Article 371 A? Didn’t the Naga Peoples Convention members who signed the 16 Point agreement understand these legal nullification of Naga rights to life and land? After all the signatories were then the educated cream of the Naga society with some of them even possessing Llb degrees!
