Some Open Questions to the Prime Minister of India’s Statement of Oct 2, 2016

Whereas, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi stated on Oct. 2, 2016 at the inauguration of the Pravasi Bharatya Kendra in Delhi that: “India had never coveted any territory or (had) never attacked any country,” I, as President of the Federal Government of Nagaland, (FGN) wish to bring the following counter facts to the notice of India and the whole world:

To begin with, our country Nagaland, declared her independence on 14th August 1947, as compared to India being granted her independence by the British on 15th August 1947. Information about this declaration of our independence was conveyed to the leaders of the then Indian National Congress and the UNO on the same date. Records of these facts will be found in your own national archives as well as the international archives of the UN.

1. As for Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the Indian nation, this was what he stated when the Naga National Council (NNC) leaders met him at Bhangi Colony in Delhi on July 19, 1947: “If you say that you are not Indians and your country does not belong to India, then the matter ends there. Nobody will force you to join the Indian Union.”

2. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of Indian, also clearly stated the following words in connection with the Naga territories on August 19,1946: “The tribal areas are defined as those long frontiers of India which are neither part of India nor of Burma, nor of Indian states nor of any foreign powers.” (Statement of Nehru on Aug.19, 1946 in connection with the British Coupland Plan)

3. As for the British who had ruled over India for over two hundred years, their records bear clear witness to our territories in the following words: “No written treaties or agreements have been made with any of the Naga tribes.” (C.V. Aitchison, Treaties Engagements and Sanads, Vol. XII P 91, 1931).

4. Lastly, following the request of the Nagas to the Simon Commission Memorandum of 1929 to remain sovereign, the British, in their Indian Constitution Act of 1935, kept the Naga areas as “Excluded Areas” from the rest of India.

However, in contravention of all these political and historical facts, India coveting our territories attacked Nagaland from the early 1950’s onwards. In connection with these blatant attacks, B.N. Mullik, the then Director of the India Intelligence Bureau stated the following words in his book “My Years with Nehru”: “Troops moved into Tuensang by October 1955 and the war with the Nagas started from then” (B.N. Mullik, My Years with Nehru, 1948-1964. p. 308).

This above mentioned, Indian protracted war of invasion has been continuing till date. The war left over six hundred Naga villages burnt to ashes by the Indian troops between 1955to 1957. It has also resulted in the deaths of over one hundred thousand Naga civilian lives. But the continued illegal occupation of our country by Indian troops still continues to date.

In the light of all these facts, how can Narendra Modi, the present Prime Minister of India, claim that: “INDIA HAS NEVER COVETED ANY TERRITORY OR ATTACKED ANOTHER COUNTRY?”

Gen. (Retd.) Viyalie Metha,
President
Federal Government of Nagaland