Kaka D. Iralu
Was the 16 Point Agreement a great agreement that brought wonderful benefits to the Naga people? Did article 371A (a) (iv) permanently secure Nagaland’s rights to her land and her resources under the Constitution of India? Or have we all been fooled into believing a lie for all these years by a farcical sham and A POLITICAL LIE?
Of course outwardly, our state is a privileged state and our rights to our lands seem eternally secured under it. But let us look deeper into the matter and see what these two provisions have really given us.
1. Firstly let us realize that our state is a state without proper boundary lines. Way back on July 26, 1960, when a state was demanded by the 19 Naga heroes that went to Delhi, the question of an integrated Nagaland state where all Nagas can live under one administrative roof was indeed discussed.It was in fact clearly spelled out in the 13th article of their 16 Point Agreement. But because of the hurried nature under which the state was created, the matter of integration though discussed, was kept in abeyance. This hurry was because Phizo was going to address the world press on the same day of 26th July, 1960 with details of the atrocities committed by the Indian army on the Nagas. Therefore the Indian government was in a great hurry to make a settlement with the 19 Nagas in order to cover up their crime of invasion and occupation of Nagaland before Phizo met the world Press and expose India’s hypocrisy of AHIMSA. This “abeyance” business has been going on for the past 51 years of statehood under India.In actual reality Nagaland is therefore, a state without a defined boundary line. This is an unbelievable thing in relation to a state and its boundary lines. In the end the Indian puppet state of Nagaland is more like a “Donkey state” with two of its legs planted in Colonial Assam and Manipur and the other two legs standing in post Colonial Arunachal and the 16,000 sq.kms. Indian state of Nagaland. As for its geographical body, it hangs on these four outstretched legs swaying to the North east turbulent political winds! This is the Naga People’s Convention special gift to the Naga people. Some special statuses’ state indeed!
2. Next comes the so called land and its resources rights of the Nagas being snugly tugged away inside the warm pages of the Indian Constitution. Here, let us begin with a question to the N.P.C. Is India’s right to her land and her resources a right written in the Constitution of China? Is this the way nations and their rights to their lands are practiced in the world?
If the answer is a “No” as it should be, then what’s so special about the N. P. C. guys transferring our rights to our land from the Yehzabo of Nagaland to the Constitution of India?
Then coming to the practical realm of application of this right, when based on this special provision, we tried to extract our oil, what did the Indian Government come up with? Well, the Indian Government said that the extraction of oil comes under the Central list (under energy) as is written in the Seventh schedule. They also asserted that schedule 7 had been written long before Article 371A and therefore Nagas cannot just extract and sell their oil independent of India’s seventh schedule!
PHOOOF! And our very special provision disappears into thin air! Need I say anything more about our Doyang Hydro electric power generation and how much mega watts is flowing from it to India and how much is being given to the Nagaland state? The list and examples can go on.
Some very extraordinary special provisions have the NPC indeed bestowed on future generations of Nagas! Actually what they did was surrendering our future Naga economic and technological wealth to India. Thank you NPC for your wonderful schemes with your masters in Hindustan. Jai Hind
Finally, fellow Nagas, let us get this fact very clear into our heads. Though we may have all these special provisions and extraordinary right, the interpreting rights of all these provisions lies with the Indian Government, Why is this so? Well it is simply because all our so called rights are all written in the Constitution of India. In this sad scenario many of us are no longer free thinking Nagas but have become Indian subjects. But thank God, there are still some independent Nagas who are still defending their declared independence which was declared on 14th August1947.
The next question that we will be asking in our next article will be “Who is next going to surrender our political and democratic freedom to India under another grand “Shared Sovereignty scheme” with mother India?
