Kohima, July 2 (MExN): As the British people commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Kohima (BoK) in York on July 4, Nagaland Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio, and Chief Secretary, Temjen Toy, have expressed solidarity with them.
In a letter to the Kohima Educational Trust’s (KET) Chairperson, David Shaw, the leaders of Nagaland State noted the “horrible” nature of the World War II that led the Naga people to suffer as “two foreign armies fought over our lands.”
However, they reminded, “as our people's sufferings were, and their traditional community-based society despoiled forever, Kohima also rose to a place of prominence from being a sleepy little town in 1944. In 2013, British historians voted the Battle of Kohima-Imphal as the most significant in their history. Kohima today is firmly on the world map.”
As the Naga leaders looked to “strengthening our (British-Naga) friendship even more” in the 21st century, they welcomed KET leaders to celebrate the year long commemoration of the Battle of Kohima currently underway in Nagaland, till April 4, 2020.
Rio and Toy thanked the KET for their scholarship programmes that have benefitted 800 Naga students till date.
