The recent statement made by Kanpatlung Pamei referring the above article in the local dailies says that Gaidinliu was one of “the greatest saints on earth…whosoever touched her feet and bowed to her were said to have been blessed…the daughter of Lord Vishnu – the supreme godhead…Her divine powers and spiritual heights with motherly love and compassion made her ‘Ma’ (mother)…an outstanding Freedom Fighter possessing an extra ordinary divine entity” etc comparing her with Mother Teresa, Dalai Lama and AZ Phizo is a distortion of truth and the author went on accusing the Angamis for being “responsible for the unhappy development” in the connection; as such, I am constrained to respond to the same.
1. Either to idolize Gaidinliu as a Naga spiritual leader, one of the greatest saints on earth, Rani of India, freedom fighter, social reformer, epoch maker as claimed or to condemn her as an ex - convict for murder of innocents for human sacrifice, we need to examine the issue with absolute honesty and bring out the established bare facts as to who Gaidinliu really was, to clear the air to the present controversy for public interest. Presenting bogus claims of RSS brand Hindu fanatics repeatedly, politicising, communalising and provoking one another within our big Naga family has to stop henceforth for our own good. Gaidinliu 1915-93 of Luangkaeu Village, Tamenglong, Manipur was said to be a cold blooded murderer for human sacrifice, a blood-thirsty vampire, a witch, anti-Naga Nationalist, who kidnapped and killed 16 Naga National Council (NNC) members in a gruesome manner without provocation at Ngulong Village, Dist Kohima. An anti-Christ, claimed to be a goddess who possessed demonic powers, closely related to her god Tingwang who in form of a ‘Python’ guarded the entrance of her cave. Opposed children to go to school, also discouraged the cultivators in going to their fields and with a cultic propagation that by placing textbooks beneath one’s pillow and sleeping over it makes a person educated or by simply placing a granary in an open field one would have rice in abundance etc. These are the instances of an extraordinary personality cult, promises and belief that probably attract some innocent villagers of her tribe in the remotest hills. She was fond of wearing her own made customised traditional attire with two wrist watches simultaneously and sunglasses as body adornment.
2. Gaidinliu was sentenced to life imprisonment after her conviction of cold blooded murder for human sacrifices and abatement of murder in early part of 1933 by Political Agents’ Court at Imphal and not for being a freedom fighter as claimed today. The small incidents created with Daos and Spears in NC Hills by Gaidinliu and her accomplices in 20th Century was never an issue for the imperialists as compared to the act of war fought by other Nagas, with the British in 19th Century.
3. Ramzo of Mdapungwa Village and her cousin brother Haipou Jadonang of Tamenglong were hanged to death for the same crime as Gaidinliu but her life was perhaps spared because of her tender age and on ground of gender. The standard of British justice was known to the world in those days for its prompt proper justice delivery system, decency and propriety. Further proof of her habitual notorious criminal behaviour was that, even after her release in 1946 by the ‘Interim Govt of India’ at the insistence of Pandit Nehru, the then Interim Prime Minister of India, she was not permitted to go to her native Village Luangkaeu, Manipur for public safety and was strictly confined at Yimrup Tuensang, Naga Hills for 7 years, till 1952.
4. The Naga armed fighters fought against the British aggression to defend their ‘Land’ and their ‘Honour’ during 1832-79, killing the British soldiers in large scale up to 50 and much more, even in a single day on numerous occasions, including the killing of GH Damant, Political Agent, Naga Hills in an act of war at Khonoma did not attract either a death sentence nor life imprisonment. In fact, they were the freedom fighters, heroes and warriors for which a “no more fight agreement” was achieved and made in our Naga customary practices on 27.3.1880 at Mezoma. Whereas Gaidinliu’s case was a criminal one and an ex- criminal convict as per established records. However, according to the Hindu fanatics of BJP and its outfits, Gaidinliu was purportedly a first class freedom fighter and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose or A Z Phizo and the likes were not.
5. Rev Dr. A G Kamei’s claim in local media that A Z Phizo, the then NNC President went to Luangkaeu Village Tamenglong, Manipur, invited Gaidinliu to look after the home affairs of Nagaland while he would be gone abroad for the Naga Cause is far from the truth. Phizo or for that matter almost anyone knew who she was, who propagate a doctrine of successful life in feasting without any sweat and toil. Over and above, Phizo had a politically strong hierarchy with detail set up in the NNC and Federal Govt of Nagaland (FGN). Some RSS proponents have claimed that Gaidinliu had accompanied Mahatma Gandhi in his train journey in 1921 during his “Quit India Movement” from Dimapur to Golaghat and had presented him a solid teakwood crafted table of 60 cm in diameter with an aim to justify her public veneration is another lie. If it were true, she would be doing so when she was just a baby of 5-6 years, as she was born in 1915.
6. Repeated claim in print media that Pandit Nehru gave Gaidinliu the Rani title as a gift is utter nonsense. Nehru, the then president of Indian National Congress had never done so. He only wrote an article in Hindustan Times after meeting her in jail. Quote “.. she lies in some prison in Assam, wasting her bright womanhood in dark cells and solitude...And India does not even know of this brave child of her hills. But her own people remember their Rani Guidallo” Unquote. He could neither remember her name correctly nor the name of the jail. Had Nehru truly known about her heinous habitual criminal activities, he would have never written that article which was the only reason that the title Rani accidentally got stamped on to Gaidinliu by the media. Her association, submission and claim of affinity with Hinduism were the main reasons for the big publicity. With selfish motives some individuals and organisations taking advantage of the situation are using Nehru’s name and ‘Rani’ to mislead the public for their religious agenda. These are a few instances of baseless assumptions widely published for her veneration to promote the four unsound varnas of one religion, one culture, one book and one language.
7. The true picture of Gaidinliu is emphatically made clear by the “National Committee for Birth Centenary Celebration of Rani Gaidinliu” by its Rep. Memo No. RC/Centenary/2014-2015/001 addressed to Chief Minister, Manipur, O. Ibobi Singh which is hereby reproduced. ”She took up arms and adopted the jungle path again for six years from 1960-66. This time she fought against Naga National Council (NNC) to protect and preserve her Sanatan Dharm and Sanatan Sanskriti which was being threatened by NNC. Thus she was a freedom fighter, a social reformer and epoch maker.”
8. Key issues are clear from above. As per the RSS fraternity, whosoever belongs to anti-Naga National Movement and had a religious association and claim of affinity with the Hindu Brahmin Priests as Gaidinliu is freedom fighter, social reformer and history-maker. BJP’s brand of perverted freedom fighter as Gaidinliu’s case is simply an act of glorification of criminal activities of murder and is dangerous. A BJP MP’s glorification of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse is a similar ugly reflection of the philosophy and doctrine of life advocated by BJP, RSS, VHP or Bajrang Dal which explains the barbaric cold blooded killing of Graham Staines and his two sons just because the extremists did not like the anti-leprosy Christian mission of mercy.
9. The claim that Gaidinliu Movement was a fight against all foreign invasion of socio- cultural -political or religious fabric of indigenous people as such she was akin to NNC, which consisted of early Christians is contrary to her submission and claim of affinity with Hinduism and its hated Caste-System of a foreign culture. The Media Cell, Zeliangrong Baudi, Nagaland’s claim of credit to Gaidinliu for the creation of Nagaland State and the Naga Cause make absolutely no sense since she was only demanding for a separate District for her own tribe from India. Her becoming Christian and baptism during her stay at Yimrup Village then reversion to her god Tingwang and opposing Christianity speaks of her unstable mind and character. Her surrender to the Govt of Nagaland along with all of their arms and ammunitions would not and does not change her indigenous inhabitant status of Manipur and not as claimed. The allotment of a Govt quarter No A/F 69 to Gaidinliu at the Forest Colony Kohima with security guards is not a merit award as claimed but for public peace and her personal security which is the responsibility of the GoN.
10. Dear brothers and sisters, let’s not politicise or communalise the controversy, try to understand the hidden agendas behind idolizing Gaidinliu with all possible awards and honours, purportedly conferring her as freedom fighter or Rani of India without justification. Instead of spreading false claims be absolutely truthful in what we say or do worthy of respect by one and all, maintain harmony at all cost and always, so that we may not be defeated by the Trojan Horse of the BJP and its outfits in their warfare for their one Religion: Hinduism, one Book : Gita, one Culture : Caste System and one Language : Hindi, to make India a Hindu Rashtra and Gaidinliu’s resurrection fits their propaganda as understood by them, so her veneration as a Naga spiritual leader is their goal but a politically, culturally and religiously worked out of a wild Hindutva monolith cannot last. India will pay a very heavy price for the attempt of utter selfishness, intolerance and arrogance BJP seems set to make. I am sure Nagaland will not stoop so low as to idolize with memorials for such a personality cult in our land to glorify and encourage the aforesaid crimes and madness.
