DIMAPUR, OCT 23 (MExN): Youth President of the Naga National Council C Chonghou has urged Naga youths to ‘speak the truth and work f or the truth’ only. “Today, youths of Nagaland are to be proud of as free men and as a free nation.
This is only because our forefathers had sagaciously founded our nation on the rock of truth. We, therefore, have the right to stand for the truth and work for it. And the truth is our right to achieve our national goal. But when we fail to uphold it, we will become a mare of the enemy and at last, we will be defeated by the enemy,” C Chonghou cautioned.
Asserting that Nagas are not Indians and Nagaland does not belong to India, he said “the Nagas are a sovereign independent nation since time immemorial and this age-old independence of Nagaland was formally declared to the outside world by the NNC on August 14, 1947, which was reaffirmed by conducting the Naga national plebiscite on May 16, 1951.
Since then the Nagas are upholding this national principle annunciated by the plebiscite, and in this running history, the Nagas have no treaty, accord or agreement with India or other nations which might tantamount to sell out Naga national rights” he stated.
According to him, India’s claim on Nagaland as an integral part of it is ‘false.’ “Also IM group leaders who are projecting as if the Nagas are demanding for self-determination and integration from India is false and telling lies to the outside world,” Chonghou maintained.
Pointing out that an unconditional withdrawal of all ‘foreign occupational forces’ from Nagaland will be the only solution to the Indo-Naga conflict and this is the only way to achieve peace and tranquility, Chonghou lamented that to ‘sell’ Nagaland to India can never be a solution to the conflict. Any Naga leader negotiating with India for a solution within the Indian union is attempting to sell out Nagaland and therefore it cannot be called as peace process, because it will surely bring more violence and bloodshed in Nagaland, he added.
Further, the NNC Youth President reminded that “we Nagas have our own traditional democratic system handed down to us by our forefathers, which even foreigners admired and termed as pure democracy.” Nagas have no kings, dictatorship or political parties in their history, he said. “Also we have no caste system and social classes among our communities. The youth of today therefore need not feel or think that our political and social system is inferior to other nations” he asserted.
Inview of these factors, substituting fair political and social systems with ‘socialist dictatorship’ is a political blunder and killing of Nagas in ‘the interest of socialism’ is an act of nonsense and madness, he asserted. “We cannot substitute our nationalism with socialism. Youths have to know that socialism and nationalism are two different lines which cannot be merged together. Naga nationalism has sprouted, rooted and grown up. That is the NNC.
Therefore, whoever is trying to kill the NNC, he/she is trying to kill Naga nationalism. The socialist group who is trying to kill the NNC is now negotiating with the government of India for a solution within the Indian union. That is not the fruit of our nationalism. So, the truth youths have to know that we cannot harvest rice from fig tree” the NNC Youth President reminded.
