Naga National Council facts for kids

The Naga National Council (NNC) was an important political group for the Naga people in the Naga Hills district of Assam. This area is now known as Nagaland in Northeast India. The NNC was active from the late 1940s to the early 1950s.

It grew out of an earlier group called the Naga Hills District Tribal Council, which started in 1945. The NNC was officially formed in 1946 in Sanis. T. Aliba Imti Ao was its first President. At first, the NNC was led by educated Nagas who also worked for the government. However, a strong Naga leader named Zapu Phizo took over the group in late 1949. He then changed the NNC into a group that wanted Nagaland to be a separate country.

How the NNC Started

In April 1945, a British officer named C. R. Pawsey helped create the Naga Hills District Tribal Council. This group was a place for different Naga communities to discuss their issues. It replaced an older group called the Naga Club.

In February 1946, this council was reorganized and became the Naga National Council (NNC). The NNC's main goal was to figure out how the Naga region would relate to the Government of India after the British left India.

NNC's Structure and Leaders

The first president of the NNC was T. Aliba Imti Ao. He was the first teacher among the Nagas and also worked as a pastor. He had studied at St. Edmund's College in Shillong. The joint secretary of the NNC was T. Sakhrie, who was from the Angami tribe.

The NNC had two main councils, one in Kohima and another in Mokokchung. These central councils were further divided into smaller tribal councils. Members were usually chosen by the NNC leaders, not elected by everyone.

Demands for Self-Rule

In June 1945, the NNC asked the British Government for the Naga region to have its own special status.

After a report from the 1946 Cabinet Mission to India was released, the NNC met in Wokha in June 1946. They decided that they did not want Assam to be grouped with Bengal. Instead, they wanted the Naga Hills District to be part of an independent Assam. They also wanted the Naga Hills District to have its own local self-rule and separate elections for Naga tribes.

In November 1946, Gopinath Bordoloi, who was the Premier (leader) of Assam, visited the district. The Nagas respected Assamese politicians like Bordoloi and Bimala Prasad Chaliha.

In February 1947, the NNC proposed a temporary government for the Nagas. They suggested that a "Guardian Power" should oversee them for ten years. They did not clearly say who this "Guardian Power" should be.

In June 1947, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wrote to T. Sakhrie, the NNC secretary. Nehru explained that the Indian government was against separate elections. He believed they would keep small groups apart from the rest of the nation.

Talks with Indian Leaders

In 1947, a special group from the Constituent Assembly called the Bordoloi subcommittee visited Kohima. They came to talk with Naga leaders. T. Aliba Imti Ao became a member of this subcommittee.

The NNC leaders had discussions with the subcommittee. Some Naga leaders wanted to take a more moderate approach, but others, especially from the Angami group, were very firm in their demands.

The Nine-Points Agreement

Aliba Imti worked hard to find a solution between the government and the NNC. Because of his efforts, on June 26, 1947, Sir Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari, the Governor of Assam, signed an agreement with the Naga leaders. This was called the Nine-Points Agreement.

This agreement stated that the Nagas would have their own judicial (court), executive (governing), and legislative (law-making) powers. They would also have control over their land. These rules were guaranteed for ten years. After that, the Nagas could choose to continue the agreement or make a new one. The agreement also promised to unite Naga areas from nearby districts into the Naga Hills District.

However, the Indian Constituent Assembly did not fully agree with the Hydari accord. The Naga leaders thought it meant they would have a separate state with India as a "Guardian Power" for ten years. But the Indian Constituent Assembly believed it only gave the Naga Hills "district self-rule within the Indian Constitution."

Phizo's Rise and the Push for Independence

Before 1949, Angami Zapu Phizo was not a major leader in the NNC. He led his own group called the People's Independence League, which wanted full independence. He tried to convince leaders from other groups like the Assamese and Khasis to also seek independence instead of joining India. However, his efforts did not succeed.

In July 1947, Phizo planned to meet national leaders in Delhi. The Deputy Commissioner Pawsey sent a message saying Phizo's group was "unimportant." Despite this, Phizo's group did meet Mahatma Gandhi. They told Gandhi they wanted to declare independence. Gandhi reportedly said that if they did not want to join India, no one would force them.

T. Sakhrie, the NNC secretary, had worried that the Indian government might use military force in Naga territory. Gandhi assured the Naga group that he would go to Kohima and would be the first to be shot if any Naga was killed.

Declaring Independence

On August 14, 1947, just one day before India became independent, Phizo sent a telegram to the United Nations and Delhi. He announced that his group intended to lead a free Naga nation. However, the local government stopped the telegram, so it was never delivered.

On August 15, Phizo declared Nagaland's independence. Some historians say there is no clear sign that the NNC as a whole supported this declaration.

Leaders who wanted full independence, led by Phizo, slowly gained more power in the NNC. Phizo became the NNC president in late 1949. Under his leadership, the NNC began to strongly push for Nagaland to separate from India.

The Indian government continued the British policy of keeping the North-East somewhat separate. The Naga Hills District was given a special status as an "Autonomous District" managed by the Assam government. It had limited representation in the Assam State Assembly and the national Parliament. Another area, the Naga Tribal Area (Tuensang), was managed directly by the Governor of Assam.

The Plebiscite and Its Aftermath

In February 1950, the NNC announced that it would hold a vote, called a plebiscite, to decide if Nagaland should be independent. The Indian government called the NNC "misguided" and rejected their idea.

However, the NNC went ahead with the plebiscite on May 16, 1951. They claimed that 99.9% of Nagas wanted independence from India. It is not clear who all participated in this vote, so the high percentage is questioned. Many Naga people lived outside the area where the NNC was active. Also, the Indian government told its employees not to take part in the vote. Both the Indian and Assam governments rejected the results.

Phizo met with Indian Prime Minister Nehru several times between 1951 and 1952. He was also arrested in Burma for entering the country illegally.

The first Indian general elections were held in 1952. The Naga leaders who wanted independence boycotted these elections. In October 1952, Imkongmeren Ao, the NNC vice-president, sent a letter to Nehru. He complained about the killing of a Naga person and reminded Nehru of the Nagas' wish for independence.

In 1953, Nehru and the Burmese Prime Minister U Nu met to decide the borders between India and Burma. Naga leaders who wanted independence saw this meeting as an attempt to divide Naga territory between the two countries. Nehru and U Nu visited Naga areas in both India and Burma. On March 30, 1953, when they visited Kohima, the local officer stopped the NNC group from meeting Nehru. Because of this, the NNC and its supporters boycotted Nehru's public meeting.

After the NNC decided to boycott the Indian government, many posters and letters appeared. These threatened government employees, especially Nagas, who worked for the government. As a result, the government started police actions against the NNC. On April 4, 1953, police searched T. Sakhrie's house. On April 7, guns were taken from several villages. On May 3, the Assam police and Assam Rifles raided Khonoma, Phizo's village. In May and July 1953, new laws were put in place to control public order in the Naga Hills District.

On August 12, 1953, the Naga tribal councils and courts were closed down. A few days later, the Kohima Government School temporarily closed. This happened after 19 students boycotted India's Independence Day celebrations on August 15. They also threatened teachers and students who joined the celebrations.

Later, goodwill groups from Assam's political parties visited the Naga Hills District. In return, a Naga Goodwill mission, led by Phizo's niece Rano M. Iralu, visited Assam from November to December 1953.

NNC's Decline

In September 1954, Phizo created a new group called the "People's Sovereign Republic of Free Nagaland." He reorganized the NNC as the chances for a peaceful solution decreased. In 1955, some Angami leaders, including T. Sakhrie (who had been the NNC secretary since it started), disagreed with Phizo. Phizo had Sakhrie murdered in January 1956. Other leaders who disagreed with Phizo had to seek safety from the Indian government. Because of these events, the NNC almost completely fell apart.

In January 1956, the Naga Hills District was declared a "Disturbed Area," which meant the Indian Army took control. On March 22, 1956, Phizo formed the "Naga Central Government," which was later renamed the "Federal Government of Nagaland" (FGN) in 1959. This new group had a military part to fight against the Indian soldiers. Phizo escaped to East Pakistan in December 1956 and then went to London.

The movement for a separate Nagaland became much weaker after Nagaland became a new state of India in 1963. P. Shilu Ao, a Naga leader, became its first chief minister. Some Naga rebel groups continued fighting, but the violence greatly decreased. On November 11, 1975, a group of six Naga leaders, including Phizo's brother Kevi Yallay, signed the Shillong Peace Accord with the Government of India.

However, the NNC's Vice President Isak Chishi Swu and General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah spoke out against the Accord. They called it a "complete sellout of the Naga rights." They officially condemned the Accord and called its supporters traitors. But on December 2, the FGN supported the Accord. Both sides wanted Phizo's opinion, but Phizo, who was in London, did not say if he supported or condemned it.

Later, in 1980, a group led by Isak, Muivah, and SS Khaplang left the NNC. They formed the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), which continued the fight for independence.