Naga National Council facts for kids

The Naga National Council (NNC) was a political group for the Naga people in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It started from an older group called the Naga Hills District Tribal Council, which was set up in 1945. The NNC was formed in 1946 in Sanis. Its first president was T. Aliba Imti Ao. The NNC declared independence on August 14, 1947, a day before India became independent. They tried to make the Naga area a separate country from India, but they were not successful.

How it Started

In April 1945, a British officer named C. R. Pawsey created the Naga Hills District Tribal Council. This group was a place for different Naga groups to talk. It took the place of an earlier group called the Naga Club. In February 1946, this council was changed into a political group called the Naga National Council (NNC). The NNC's main goal was to figure out how the Naga area would relate to the Government of India after the British left.

T. Aliba Imti Ao was the president of the NNC. T. Sakhrie, an Angami Naga, was the joint secretary.

How NNC was Set Up

The NNC had two main councils, one in Kohima and one in Mokokchung. Each main council was divided into smaller tribal councils. These tribal councils were then split into even smaller sub-tribal councils. Usually, a sub-tribal council included five villages. The leaders of the NNC chose the members; they were not elected by voting.

The Kohima Central Council had 12 members. Seven of them were from the Angami tribe. A school teacher from the Liangmei tribe led this council.

The Mokokchung Central Council had 15 members. Five were Ao, four Sema, three Lotha, two Sangtam, and one Chang. The Konyaks were not part of the first meeting.

Wanting to Rule Themselves

In June 1945, the NNC asked the British Government for the Naga region to be able to rule itself. When a report about India's future was released in 1946, the NNC made a statement. They said they did not want Assam to be grouped with Bengal. They wanted the Naga Hills District to be part of an independent Assam that could rule itself. They also wanted the Naga Hills District to have its own local government and special voting rights for Naga tribes.

Talks with Indian Leaders

In November 1946, Gopinath Bardoloi, a leader from Assam, visited the Naga area. The Nagas respected him and other Assamese politicians.

In February 1947, the NNC suggested a plan for a temporary Naga government. They wanted a "Guardian Power" to help them for ten years. They did not say who this "Guardian Power" should be.

Later in 1947, a group called the Bardoloi sub-committee came to Kohima to talk with Naga leaders. The NNC did not have a permanent president at that time. The sub-committee met with different groups. Some Naga leaders were more open to working with India, but others, especially from the Angami group, were very firm in their demands.

The Nine-Points Agreement

T. Aliba Imti Ao kept working for an agreement between the government and the NNC. Because of his efforts, on June 26, 1947, Sir Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari, the Governor of Assam, signed a Nine-Points Agreement with the Naga leaders.

This agreement said that the Nagas would have powers over their own laws, government, and land. These promises were guaranteed for ten years. After ten years, the Nagas could choose to continue the agreement or make a new one. The Naga leaders were also promised that Naga areas from nearby districts would be joined into the Naga Hills District.

However, the Indian government's law-making body did not fully agree with the Hydari agreement. The Naga leaders thought it meant they would be a separate country with India as a "Guardian Power" for ten years. But the Indian government understood it as only giving the Naga district the power to rule itself within India.

Phizo and the Idea of Being Separate

In June 1947, India's Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, wrote to the NNC secretary, T. Sakhrie. Nehru said that the Indian government was against separate voting groups. He felt it would keep small groups apart from the rest of the country.

A strong NNC leader named Angami Zapu Phizo met with leaders from other groups like the Assamese and Khasis. He tried to convince them to form their own independent countries instead of joining India. But his efforts did not work.

On July 19, a group of Naga leaders, including A. Z. Phizo, met with the Indian leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in Delhi. They talked about Naga self-rule. The NNC secretary, T. Sakhrie, had worried that India might use its army to take over the Naga area. Gandhi told the Naga group that he would go to Kohima and would be "the first to be shot before any Naga is killed."

After India's Independence

On August 14, 1947, one day before India became independent, the Nagas declared their own independence.

In 1948, an agreement was made between the NNC and the Government of India. It recognized the Naga people's right to decide their own future. However, leaders like Phizo, who wanted complete separation, became more powerful in the NNC. Phizo became the NNC Chairman in late 1949. Under his leadership, the NNC started to push for becoming a separate country from India.

The Indian government continued the British way of keeping the North-East somewhat separate. The Naga Hills District was given a special status. It was managed by the Government of Assam but had limited representation in the state and national governments.

In February 1950, the NNC announced that it would hold a vote (called a plebiscite) to decide if Nagas wanted to be a separate country. The Indian government called the NNC "misguided" and rejected their plan. Still, the NNC held the vote on May 16, 1951. They claimed that 99.9% of Nagas wanted independence. However, it is not clear who voted, and many Nagas lived outside the NNC's active area. The Indian government rejected the results of this vote.

Phizo met with 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 to be separate refused to take part in these elections.

In 1953, Nehru and the Prime Minister of Burma met to decide the borders between India and Burma. Naga leaders who wanted to be separate said this meeting was about dividing Naga land between the two countries. When Nehru visited Kohima on March 30, 1953, the local official stopped the NNC from meeting him. Because of this, the NNC and its supporters boycotted Nehru's public meeting.

After the NNC decided to boycott the Indian government, threats appeared against government workers, especially Nagas. The government then started police actions against the NNC. On May 3, 1953, police and soldiers raided Khonoma, Phizo's village. The government also passed a law to maintain 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 was temporarily shut. This happened after 19 students boycotted India's Independence Day celebrations and threatened others.

NNC's Decline

In September 1954, Phizo created a group called the "People's Sovereign Republic of Free Nagaland." He changed how the NNC was set up as hopes for a peaceful solution faded. In 1955, some Angami leaders, including T. Sakhrie (who had been the NNC secretary), disagreed with Phizo. Phizo had Sakhrie killed in January 1956. Other leaders who disagreed with Phizo had to seek safety from the Indian government. This led to the NNC almost falling 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," later called the "Federal Government of Nagaland" (FGN). This new group had a military part to fight Indian soldiers. Phizo escaped to East Pakistan in December 1956, and then went to London.

The movement for a separate Naga country became much weaker after Nagaland was made a new state of India in 1963. P. Shilu Ao, a Naga leader, became its first chief minister. Some Naga rebel groups continued to fight, but the violence greatly decreased. In 1975, a group including Phizo's brother signed the Shillong Peace Accord with the Government of India.

However, some NNC leaders, like Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, said the Accord was a "complete sellout of the Naga rights." They called its supporters traitors. Phizo, who was in London, did not say if he supported or opposed the Accord.

Later, in 1980, a group led by Isak and Muivah broke away from the NNC. They formed the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), which continued the fight for a separate Naga country.

See also

• Angami Zapu Phizo