SC Jamir’s recent meeting with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has renewed debate over Naga politics, his legacy, his authority to speak and his enduring influence in Nagaland amid tensions
Monalisa Changkija
On September 10, 2026, Dr. SC Jamir, former Chief Minister of Nagaland and former Governor of Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Odisha, met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at Delhi. In this meet, Dr. Jamir highlighted the unresolved Naga political issue drawing attention to the non-implementation of the Framework Agreement of August, 2015 and the Agreed Position 2017; emphasised on upholding secularism vis-à-vis violence against minorities and the FCRA Amendment Bill and Article 371 (A) and the Christian Identity of the Naga people. He had also underscored the need for a total overhauling of the entire system of governance in Nagaland, which he opined could be possible only when the State is brought under President’s Rule for a spell of one to two years. Dr. Jamir needs no introduction to people who are well-versed with the political history of the Naga people and the emergence of the State of Nagaland since the advent of the British in the Naga Hills. A survivor of four assassination attempts, the last in 1999, Jamir is also the only surviving signatory of the 16-Point Agreement, who had been a major player in the political history of Nagaland since the 1950s and have worked under late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as Parliamentary Secretary and also late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The news of Jamir meeting Bhagwat created ripples in Nagaland. NSCN (IM) Collective Leadership member Rh Raising said that Dr. Jamir does not represent the Naga cause. He is quoted to have said: “He is not the advocate of the Naga people. We know from the very beginning”, adding, “He (Jamir) is out and out an Indian and he speaks Indian polity…he doesn’t have any right to talk on the issue of the Nagas.” (Morung Express, September 17, 2026). The September 17 issue of Nagaland Post reported: “NSCN (IM) on Wednesday (September 16, 2026) questioned the authority of former Nagaland Chief Minister Dr. SC Jamir to speak on the Naga political issue, asserting that he was neither authorized nor mandated to represent the Naga people in the ongoing negotiations”. NPF Secretary General Achumbemo Kikon described Jamir as “an old man in a hurry” over the latter’s recent remarks on the Naga political issue following the September 10 meeting with Mohan Bhagwat (Morung Express, September 18, 2026).
Since Jamir met Bhagwat and thereafter his press conference at Dimapur along with members of the Concerned Naga Forum of Nagaland (CNFN), there has been a free-for-all barrage of brickbats aimed at Dr. Jamir by “experts” of Naga political history. However, questioning Dr. Jamir’s right to speak on Naga political issue has also been questioned both in the legacy and social media. Their stand is that one may or may not agree with Dr. Jamir on his account of Naga political history and his opinion thereof or any issue but none can deny and/or question his right to speech. Whether anyone needs to be “authorized” or “mandated” to speak on the Naga issue has also come into focus, as also who decides on who has the “authority”/“mandate” and what are the qualifying decision-making powers and who gave them those powers. Another aspect of the aftermath of the Jamir-Bhagwat meet ~ vis-à-vis Jamir’s right to speak on the Naga political issue ~ that is being publicly underscored is whether Naga from other States have any business casting and castigating Jamir (or any Naga of Nagaland) as the villain of the State’s political history. The debate goes on. However, Jamir’s account and opinion on the Naga political history, though contested, is well documented and consistent for decades. So the issues he highlighted to Mohan Bhagwat are not really something new.
For the NPF, it is understandable because of its somewhat indistinct political journey since the early 2000s and because it is currently in power and the very term ‘President’s Rule’ is anathema to any party in power. Interestingly, per September 24, 2026 media reports, the Naga People’s Front (NPF), the BJP and the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) top the list of parties to have welcomed defectors into their fold in the last four years, a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has revealed. The report has compiled that 26 Lok Sabha MPs, 7 Rajya Sabha MPs and 78 MLAs have defected to other parties between 2022 and 2026. The NPF, the BJP and the NCPI gained at the cost of the National Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), the all-India Trinamool Congress and the Congress. The NDPP, Trinamool and Congress together lost about 58% of their elected representatives to the NPF, BJP and NCPI. The NPF, currently ruling in Nagaland along with the BJP and a coalition partner in BJP-ruled Manipur, bagged the most number of MLAs across the country after the NDPP merged with it in October last year. This year in May, the Election Commission recognised the merger. Before the merger the NPF had only two legislators in the 60-member Nagaland Assembly, while the NDPP had 25. Seven MLAs belonging to the late Ajit Pawar’s NCP had joined the NDPP in May 2025. After the merger of the NDPP with the NPF, Nagaland was left without any Opposition. The ADR’s report doesn’t exactly paint a very pretty picture of the NPF because defection is a questionable democratic and constitutional practice and the political environment in the country has once again ignited fresh conversations on defection of the last few years, especially of the recent months.
Anyway, the point here is: why are Jamir’s antagonists so rattled after he met Bhagwat? After all, there are so many former and present politicians people agree or disagree with and castigate even after they are long gone. Like it or not, Jamir’s indelible imprint on Nagaland’s political history cannot be wished away. Posterity will decide on his role because his contributions to the State of Nagaland ~ both positive and negative ~ have shaped this State’s political history. What is interesting is that Jamir’s antagonists have reacted more to him and his narratives than ignoring him and recreating newer and saleable narratives ~ this is interesting if he is inconsequential to Nagaland’s political history. This speaks a lot about Jamir, as a person and as a former politician. That a 95-year-old former politician still shakes the political firmament of Nagaland also speaks a lot about his antagonists. This “old man”, who is retired and holds no office but raises the heckles of so many people including the party in power in Nagaland, must really have the kind of power and reach very few attain and it could possibly be this rare power and reach his antagonists fear ~ therefore the attempts to silence and cancel him. Love him or hate him, Jamir never fails to evoke passion one way or the other. Otherwise why would the apex bodies of his tribe and village, student and youth organizations of his tribe and so many others of all tribes stand by him and respect him and his opinions, even if they may not always agree with him?
(Monalisa Changkija is a Dimapur-based veteran journalist, poet, and former Proprietor, Publisher and Editor of Nagaland Page. Published in the September 29, 2026 issue of Assam Tribune)
