Fate of Article 371A is hanging in balance

Oken Jeet Sandham *

A view of Kohima, Nagaland in Feb 2009 :: Pix - Jinendra Maibam

If one studies carefully as to how the Nagaland State came into being, it is rather complex. The Nagas, particularly under the banner of the Naga National Council (NNC), had been engaged in series of political talks with Delhi before and after India attained her Independence. The NNC leaders had met almost all the principal leaders of India including Mahatma Gandhi when they realized that the British was leaving Indian Sub-continent soon. They told Gandhi on July 19, 1947 that they were resolved to declare their own independence one day before India did so, on August 14, 1947 and they even asked him for his help.

Gandhi's reply to the Naga delegation made the Naga movement unique. He said, "Nagas have every right to be independent. We did not want to live under the dominion of British and they are now leaving us. I want you to feel that India is yours. I feel that the Naga Hills is mine just as much as it is yours; but if you say, 'It is mine', then the matter must stop there, I believe in the brotherhood of man, but I do not believe in force or forced unions."

However, after realizing that no breakthrough would emerge, the NNC leaders went ahead to declare "The Naga Independence Day on August 14, 1947," one day ahead of declaration of India's Independence. The tumultuous journey began since then.

In fact, the Indian leaders including Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sadar Patel, etc were caught napping when the NNC leaders declared the "Naga Independence Day," one day before the declaration of India's Independence. They would have never imagined that this would happen and might have underrated the capabilities of the NNC leaders then. The "9-Point Sir Akbar Hydari Agreement of 1947" was a total failure and Indian Army started invading the Naga areas in mid-50s in the name of aiding the civil administrations.

The bloody conflicts between the Indian army and the Naga army ensued. The Indian army started burning down Naga villages, granaries in the name of fighting the Naga insurgents. While menfolk had to take shelters deep inside the jungle for months, the women, children and elderly people had to face the worst atrocities. The situation was simply unimaginable.

In the midst of this situation, some new crop of Naga leaders came out open floating a body called Naga People's Convention (NPC) aimed at playing mediating role between Delhi and the Naga underground people. The 16-Point Memorandum adopted by NPC finally became the basis of giving birth to the Statehood of Nagaland. Subsequently, Nagaland attained Statehood with an enactment of the State of Nagaland Act, 1962, by the Parliament.

Soon after the Statehood was granted, Delhi entered into first ever ceasefire with the Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN) in 1964 and held political talks with them but unfortunately, in the 6th round of talks, it broke down. Later, the Government of India had unilaterally abrogated the ceasefire in August, 1972. In spite of breaking down of the historic ceasefire, the FGN still observes this "historic Indo-Naga ceasefire" annually on September 6.

Violence reared its ugly head again leading to the signing of the infamous Shillong Accord of 1975. The Accord, unfortunately, became the bond of contention among the leaders of the NNC. Some influential leaders broke away from the NNC and formed the NSCN in 1980. Again this split into two in 1988---one headed by Isak Chishi Swu and Th Muivah and the other by SS Khaplang and Dally Mongro. Many Naga leaders and thousands of cadres lost their precious lives due to factionalism.

It has been seventeen years that the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India have been maintaining their truce and there have been over 60 rounds of talks during this near two decades. Also the Government of India declared ceasefire with the NSCN (K) in 2001. (Now it got split into two---one, GPRN/NSCN, headed by Khole and Kitovi Zhimomi and other, NSCN (K), still by SS Khaplang). But even after this development, the Center maintained ceasefires with both of them. So talks are still going on between the Government of India and the NSCN (IM) to find solution to the protracted Naga political issue. These days, the specter of factionalism has come down drastically and the chasm among the factions reduced.

Interestingly, the Nagaland State has survived 50 years, while Delhi continues to engage in talks with Naga underground leaders to find settlement to the Naga issue. The Naga sovereignty has been fundamental to the Naga political movement and the Article 371A was for making Nagaland as a full-fledged Statehood.

So, if one clearly examines the two things, the Article 371A has, precisely, got nothing to do with the Naga political issue as Delhi has been persistently engaged in ceasefires with various Naga underground groups and holding talks with them to find solution to the Naga issue. Surprisingly, the Naga underground groups generally observe the "Naga Independence Day Celebrations" every year on August 14 and strangely, all these activities happened without much obstruction from the Government side.

Of late, the tension and fear grip the minds of the citizens, particularly the minority communities, in many parts of the country after the BJP-led NDA Government came to power. After few days of occupying the power at the Center, the newly installed NDA Government raked up about the possible debate on the Article 370 which is for the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

This development has given room for citizens of many States including Nagaland, which attained Statehood through various political arrangements, to fear about their future status. Their main fear is once Article 370 is debated, other sensitive Articles like 371 A will also be debated. For the Nagas, they are still blaming Delhi for various past failed talks and accords. They still vow that the "16-Point Agreement" is not final settlement to the Naga issue. Without doubt, the continuation of Delhi's ceasefires and talks with the Naga underground groups manifests that the final settlement is not yet arrived at.

Article 370 dealing with the State of Jammu and Kashmir is nowhere having even slightest resemblance with Article 371A dealing with the State of Nagaland. Yet, there is every chance of losing Article 371A as and when settlement to Naga issue is arrived at and it is not because Delhi rakes up Article 370.

Now the thought-provoking point is when the settlement to the Naga issue is near, Delhi may take excuse - in the form of "Give-and-Take formula" - to either repeal the Article 371A or amend it by diluting Clauses associated with it. Some mild fresh Clauses may be incorporated, anyway. They may try to give certain economic packages to various Naga areas but not before diluting the existing Article 371A. The fear is some of the Clauses in the Article 371A which give unique power to the people of Nagaland may be diluted and that will be a great handicap to the Naga people particularly the Nagas of Nagaland.