There has been much agitated debate amongst different sections of Naga society over the granting of Indigenous Naga Tribe status to 1313 members of Rongmei community in Nagaland by state Government in 2012. Alleging that this decision was taken by the government following a recommendation from the Naga Hoho way back in 2008, three major tribes - Ao Senden, Sumi Hoho and Lotha Hoho which comprises the CNTC officially dissociated from Naga Hoho since 31st August 2016.
Subsequently, the Naga Hoho had clarified time and again through mass media denying that it had only urged the state government for recognition of members of Rongmei community who had settled in Nagaland before 1st December 1963 as “Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland” as enjoyed by Garos, Kukis and Kacharis in line with Government Notification No.AR-8/76 Dated, the 28th April, 1977.
We have also noted CNTC’s clarification on Rongmei issue which appeared in all leading dailies of the state on 15/16 October 2016, over the “subject” matter of its letter to the Govt. of Nagaland.
It is a matter of general knowledge that for any official letter, a subject is used which the author of the letter chooses to highlight the content(s) of the letter. As a common practice, any respondent to the same letter uses the same subject for ready reference. In the present case, the state govt. letter No. GAB-10/1/77(Pt) dated 25.07.2008 addressed to the Naga Hoho carried the subject – “Representation by Rongmei Community, Nagaland for granting of status of Indigenous Naga Tribe to Rongmei Community settled in Nagaland”. Resorting to the general practice, Naga Hoho’s letter No. NH/Corr/2008-11 dated 22.09.2008 written in response to the state govt’s letter mentioned above used the same subject, though slightly truncated by removing the phrase “Representation by Rongmei Community, Nagaland” in order to make it known that the letter is in response to the issue raised by the state govt.
However, the body of the letter amply expresses the view of the Naga Hoho, the main points mentioned being that – a) The Naga Hoho supports the desire of the state govt. which is that of granting Indigenous Inhabitant of Nagaland to Rongmei Community. This argument is supported by the fact that till the time of exchange of these letters, all the prevailing state govt. notifications/orders rendered the Rongmei Community members settled before the formation of Nagaland state in December 1963, eligible for Indigenous Inhabitants only and not Indigenous Naga Tribe. That being the stated state govt. policy, granting of Indigenous Inhabitant status to the above mentioned category of Rongmei Community was without doubt assumed by Naga Hoho to be the desire of the state govt.; b) to support its opinion further, Naga Hoho in the same letter justified it by citing the examples of Kukis, Garos and Kacharis who were enjoying the privilege of Indigenous Inhabitants of the state in accordance with the state govt. Notification No. AR-8/76 dated 28.04.1977 which describes the eligibility criteria for consideration of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland. There might have confusion with different interpretation over the subject matter among the people and therefore Naga Hoho has laid bare in the public domain its position which was reiterated time and again through mass media and other platforms.
As our clarifications could not convince the three tribal Hohos, a delegation of Naga Hoho met the Chief Minister of Nagaland on 14th October, 2016 and submitted a Memorandum requesting the government to re-examine the decision of the state government of granting Indigenous Naga Tribe status to Rongmei community and find out a solution in consultation with all the stakeholders/Tribal Hohos. The full text of this Memorandum was released to the local dailies and subsequently published. Keeping all this in mind, Naga Hoho has appealed twice to the dissociated Tribe Hoho’s to review their decision considering the validity of justification on the question of Rongmei community. Unfortunately, we could not get any positive reply till date.
In the meantime, the Naga Hoho Empowered Committee on Goodwill Mission submitted its proposal on 18th November, 2016 to the Executive Council requesting to “withdraw the expressed views and opinions of the Naga Hoho to the Government of Nagaland on the issue of granting status of Indigenous Naga Inhabitant to Rongmei community” in order to strengthen the unity and fraternity of Naga Hoho.
In this backdrop, the Presidential Council of the Naga Hoho held a joint meeting with the Empowered Committee on Goodwill Mission on 21st November, 2016. At this meeting, the members unanimously resolved to With this withdrawal, the views and opinion which was shared with state Government through its above mentioned letter is rendered null and void. This step is taken with a view to strengthening the bond of relationship among different Naga tribes and to foster unity and fraternity as one Naga family.
It is the earnest belief of Naga Hoho that since the bone of contention is removed, the three Tribal Hohos will now join hands with the Naga Hoho and work proactively as constituent Tribal Hohos of Naga Hoho towards furthering the interest of the Naga people as they have been doing in the past.
