In the 3rd Naga Peoples’ Convention held at Tahamzam on the 1st July, 2010, the Nagas in Manipur have declared that we will sever all political ties with the communal Government of Manipur. This position is based upon the unmistakable fact that it is impossible to protect our right to life, land, time-honored institutions, customary practice and values under the administration of the dominant and communal Government of Manipur (GoM), and that our history with it, has clearly confirmed the harsh reality that the GoM has never recognized and respected the identity and dignity of the Naga people.
Following this declaration, Nagas have not allowed the District Councils that have been declared ‘null and void’ to function in Naga areas. Ministers and MLAs of the GoM have not been welcomed to our areas. We have demanded from the GoI for intervention with an Alternative Arrangement outside the Government of Manipur.
Communalism and the Nagas/Tribals in Manipur
1. The Nagas and tribals in Manipur have not objected to -
(a) the Meities’ movement for self determination. It is common knowledge that Naga nationalists had provided assistance and guidance to the Meitei nationalist groups in time of their great needs.
(b) the Meitei’s demand for inclusion of Meiteilon in the 8th Schedule and the extension of 11th Schedule(Panchayati Raj) and the 12th Schedule (Municipality Council) to the Manipur valley.
(c) the development of Imphal valley as a modern city state with state of the art structures and buildings and communication networks.
2. The Government of Manipur have -
(a) enacted the Manipur (Village Authority in Hill Areas) Act, 1956 against the customary practices and traditions of the tribals, thereby destroying the self-governing system of the tribals.
(b) passed the Manipur Hill Areas (Acquisition of Chiefs Rights) Act, 1967 to enable Govt. of Manipur to transfer all rights, titles and interest of the chiefs in village land and vest the same in the Government.
(c) passed the Forest Rights Act, 2006 without excluding the tribal areas in the state in full knowledge of the land holding system of the tribals in the state.
(d) imposed the Manipur(Hill Areas) District Council (3rd Amendment) Act, 2008 which allows for District Councils to occupy and sell village lands, take away forests, interfere in the appointment/succession of chiefs/ headman/chairman and on matters relating to inheritance of property, marriage and divorce and control and regulation of customs and traditions.
(e) sabotaged the delimitation exercise in the name of all Manipur political parties forum and prevented the increase of 5 tribal seats in the State Assembly.
(f) stated that, there are no Nagas and no land which belongs to the Nagas in Manipur.
(g) by establishing legitimacy have imposed acts, rules, orders and suppressive measures in all walks of life and blatantly carried out mass scale injustice, deprivation and oppression of the tribals.
(h) also launched full scale communal attack through public orders on other mainland Indians, who are settled in Imphal after 19th October, 1949 and many innocent Mayangs (outsiders) have been killed, maimed and forced to flee Imphal valley.
3. The Government of Manipur have objected to -
(a) the demand for Naga integration, the aspiration of all Nagas, based on their history.
(b) the Indo-Naga ceasefire of 1997 and the extension of cease-fire beyond territorial limits in 2001. They want violence and conflicts to continue.
(c) the extension of any constitutional provisions that will benefit hill/tribal people.
(d) the visit of Th. Muivah, the Naga leader and chief negotiator with Govt. of India, to his native place.
(e) the visit of the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) to Oinam village, Tahamzam (Senapati) to oversee arrangement for their Federal Assembly.
(f) the demand of the Nagas in Manipur for an alternative arrangement outside the Government of Manipur, as the Nagas can no more protect their land, traditional institutions, dignity and honour under the communal Govt. of Manipur.
(g) the launching of Manipur unit of the Naga Peoples’ Front (NPF), a political party registered with the Election Commission of India under Peoples’ Representation Act and to the visit of Mr Neiphiu Rio, a democratically elected Chief Minister to attend the same.
(h) any move either imagined or actual to address the Naga issue as borne out by the present furore against the supposed supra-state concept.
4. The Government of Manipur wants to -
(a) extend the MLR& LR Act of 1960 to the hills areas of Manipur and thereby snatch away the land of the tribal.
(b) lift the Manipur Liquor prohibition Act 1991 from the five hill districts.
(c) impose Manipuri language on tribals by making it compulsory in educational institutions and competitive examinations.
(d) upgrade/create Sadar Hills, Jiribam, Phungyar, Tegnoupal, Kakching, Tongjei Maril, etc districts so as to bifurcate Naga areas and snatch away land and to turn them into revenue and Meitei majority districts.
5. Given the above situation, it is most unbelievable that even the exalted office of the Governor of Manipur had all these year failed in his constitutional duties as stipulated under 371(C)(2) which enjoins the Governor to submit an annual report to the President of India on the administration of the hill areas of Manipur. As borne out by an RTI application, the response dated 7th July, 2011 ref no MHA w.r.t. O.M. no. A. 43020/01/2011-RTI dated 1.6.2011.from the Ministry of Home Affairs, GOI indicates a “NIL” on the report to the President of India on the administration of hill areas of Manipur. This has been brought out in the public domain in our Press Statement dated 23rd November, 2011 and there is no response from the Governor’s office till date.
6. The Democratic process of tripartite talk initiated by the GoI to address the demand for an Alternative Arrangement has been wilfully undermined by the GoM through delay tactics and refusal to address the core issue of sharp social divide on communal lines.
7. Ibobi’s Communal Government of Manipur is seeking to ban the United Naga Council (UNC) for leading a peoples’ movement for the legitimate rights of the Nagas in Manipur. The democratic and non-violent protest and agitation to attract the intervention of the GoI are being sought to be curbed with legitimate sanction by Ibobi’s GoM. Instead of making efforts to address the issues raised by the Nagas through the tripartite talk that has been initiated by the GoI, the GoM seeks to impose a ban on the UNC leaving no space for the democratic and peaceful approach. The GoM is also now mobilising a section of the legal fraternity to obtain court strictures against the Naga frontal organisations to suppress the people’s movement to secure the due rights of citizens under a democratic polity. On the other hand the stark lawlessness and unconstitutional manner in which the communal GoM has conducted itself are borne out by the few instances given as follows –
a) The communal GoM has vehemently objected with fanatical fervor to the Naga aspiration for Integration under one political roof which is not anti-national or unconstitutional or illegal as was pronounced in 1972 during the merger of the AICC and the United Naga Integration Council.
b) The criminals spearheaded by the AMUCO, who burnt the Indian National Flag, Constitution of India, the State Assembly Hall(the temple of Democracy), the official quarters of Naga MLAs and attempted to vandalize the Raj Bhavan in the wake of the extension of the Indo-Naga ceasefire beyond territorial limit in 2001 have all been all set free by the GoM by setting up the C. Upendra Commission and legalizing the crime.
c) After O. Ibobi welcomed the plebiscite proposal by the banned UNLF on Sovereignty of Manipur, massive sensitization campaign on the plebiscite was carried out in the 4 Imphal valley districts with the support of the GoM and under the aegis of the UCM and the Meira Paibis. The Manipur Legislative Assembly deliberated on the 16th March 2011 on how the proposal of a banned organization can be welcomed by a Chief Minister elected under the Indian constitution.
d) The GoM has been deafeningly silent when valley based civil organizations incited the public to bloodshed and violence should the Manipur Land Reform and Land Revenue Act, 1960 and Manipur State Land Use Board, 1991 be not extended to the hill/tribal areas.
e) The President of Manipur Working Journalists Union, Mr. Mobi Singh was arrested for being a collaborator of the KCP. The United Committee Manipur (UCM) President Mr. Sapamcha Dilip was implicated with one valley underground group. Mr. Mangi Singh, Vice-President of Manipur Peoples’ Party (MPP) was arrested under NSA for his connection with valley extremists. MEELAL, a strident communal organization burned down the state library at Imphal demanding imposition of Meiteilon (Manipuri) language on the tribal students. Th. Shyam Kumar, MLA of the Manipur Peoples’ Party, the then Deputy Speaker, Manipur Legislative Assembly was arrested and detained in Tihar Jail, Delhi for close association with the valley based extremist group. Mr. Amu Meitei, who was an active member of a valley extremist group and masquerading as the PA to Y. Irabot, Minister Industries of GoM was arrested from the Minister’s residence. Donation of Rupees one crore fifty lakhs was made by O. Ibobi to the PLA, a valley based extremists Group, when Gen. JJ. Singh was the Chief of Army Staff. The details of Ibobi’s close nexus with the valley extremist groups and his wild abuse of power had been furnished to the AICC High Command in detail by Gaikhangam, President MPCCI and Surchandra, MLA, spokesperson of the then dissident group of the Manipur Congress Party when they were camping in Delhi. The GoM strongly opposed the visit of Mr. Neiphiu Rio, a democratically elected Chief Minister for the launching of Manipur unit of the Naga Peoples’ Front and creating a war like situation which was resolved only by the intervention of the Ministry of Home Affairs, GoI. Ibobi’s government has the distinction of having K. Ranjit Singh, Minister, Works who shot Mr N. Koteshwar, the Advocate General of the State; and N. Biren Singh, Minister, FCS and spokesperson of the SPF, GoM whose son used his licence gun and shot dead an innocent student. Ibobi allows the extortion of 29% at Imphal from all development work funds of the hills under his very nose.
In spite of all these wild lawlessness which he himself has allowed and also freely indulged in, Ibobi wants to suppress the democratic movement of the Nagas to protect their right to life, to their land, traditional institutions, cultural practices and a life of dignity and honor as a people.
The response of the Naga people
In the joint meeting of the UNC, tribe presidents, regional presidents and frontal organizations with the representatives of political parties (MSCP, BJP, PDA, NPF and AITCP. All political parties were invited) held at Tahamzam (Senapati) on the 15th December, 2011 the following resolutions were adopted -
a) The objection to the attempt to bifurcate Naga areas for upgradation or creation of Sadar Hills, Jiribam, Tongei Maril, Phungyar, Tegnoupal and Kakching district is endorsed.
b) The initiative of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation for bringing peace and reconciliation among the Naga brethren is acknowledged and endorsed.
c) The meeting endorses the Naga peace process and urges the negotiators for early settlement of the Indo-Naga issue.
d) The demand for an “Alternative Arrangement” outside the communal Government of Manipur pending settlement of the Indo-Naga issue is endorsed. The Government of India is urged to intervene immediately with an alternative “political and administrative” arrangement for the Nagas in Manipur, pending settlement of the Indo-Naga issue.
e) The aspiration of the Nagas to live together under a single administrative roof is endorsed.
f) Any political party or individual (s), who either in speech, written statement, visual display or in action, opposing the above established and registered position of the Nagas will be deemed to be anti-Naga.
g) The policies, programmes and activities of any political party which does not subscribe to the above position of the Nagas will not qualify for the support of the Naga people.
In the forthcoming 10th General election, the Nagas in Manipur will participate to give greater effect to the severance of political ties with the communal GoM. This General Election cannot be about individual or village or tribe interest. It is about securing out legitimate rights and enabling ourselves to shape our collective future and destiny where we can live with dignity and honour as a people by not being subjected to the interest of the dominant community or the communal State Government.
The Communal Government of Manipur led by the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) under Ibobi has pushed the Nagas to the wall. The legitimate and democratic rights of the Nagas and tribals are being taken away through acts, legislations and legal measures against natural justice. Our students have been shot dead and hundred wounded for protesting against suppressions. Our leaders have been declared wanted as if they are criminals. Our frontal organisations are sought to be banned by the GoM as if we are outlaws. Therefore Ibobi and the MPCC will be opposed by the Nagas and confronted headlong.
The Naga People’s Front, which seeks to work and assist in any possible manner on any approach for a peaceful solution of the Indo-Naga political issue and for integration of all contiguous Naga areas under one administrative roof, will therefore be the bandwagon on which the Nagas in Manipur will face the 10th General Election to the Manipur Legislative Assembly. Other political parties which are supportive of the aspirations of the Nagas and have principles and ideology in common with our registered position will also merit the cooperation of Nagas as and where possible.
Publicity Wing
United Naga Council
