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Senapati: The All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur (ANSAM), while extending its “warm greetings to all the Nagas on this historic 77th Naga National Independence Day, said that, on this very historic and remarkable day of Nagas, the Naga student body gratefully remembers Naga revolutionary leaders, martyrs for the cause of Nagas, Naga visionary leaders and ethos of Nagas’ struggle for free Nagalim.”
The ANSAM stated that during the period of British Rule, Nagas were by and large on their own and continued their social, economic and political activities according to their own values and customs. The Nagas intensely resisted and opposed any attempts of invasion and imposition by the British led combined forces. Nagas were politically conscious of their future and did not want to be part of British India and British Burma.
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The ANSAM then said that, determined to decide “our own future”, Nagas in 1946 formed the Naga National Council (NNC), a political organization described as “a natural extension of the traditional system of the Naga village/tribe to the ultimate scale-the whole of the Nagas.” In order to avoid acrimony, the NNC in the February 1947 memorandum to the British Government and British Government requested an interim government for themselves, and proposed a “protected state status” with India as a guardian power for an interim period of ten years at the end of which the Nagas would be left to decide their own political future.
According to the ANSAM, on July 19, 1947, Mahatma Gandhi told the Naga leaders that, “Nagas have every right to be independent. “We did not want to live under the domination of the British and they are now leaving us. I want you to feel that the Naga Hills are mine just as much as they are yours, but if you say, it is not mine then the matter must stop there. I believe in the brotherhood of men, But I do not believe in force or in forced unions. If you do not wish to join the Union of India, nobody will force you to do that.” Not wanting to accept any form of foreign domination, alien subjugation and exploitation, the Nagas in the “Naga Hills District” formally declared their Independence on August 14, 1947 from British Rule, and subsequently merged with the “Free Naga territories,” the Naga student body also said. Together, the “Naga Hills district” and the “Free Naga territories” constitute Naga homeland-Nagalim, the Naga student body further said.
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The declaration of Naga Independence states that Nagas were reclaiming the status they held as an independent people before the British came. The declaration was sent to the King of England, the Government of India and to the Secretary General of the United Nations, the ANSAM reminded. As a historical step in strengthening the Naga national movement, the NNC took a critical decision to organize a Naga Voluntary Plebiscite, and informed the Government of India on July 1, 1951, of their intention, the ANSAM further said. The Plebiscite was held on May 16, 1951with a symbolic and irrevocable solemn vow. The Naga people had never been a part of what today constitutes the Indian Union and Nagas will never be a part of Indian Constitution, the ANSAM also stated. “Forcing the Nagas to accept the Indian constitution by the Indian Government, enticing to a few avaricious Nagas in the Naga society can never make the Nagas to be Indians,” the ANSAM added.
It then said Nagas are bound by their own culture, language , religion, traditions, history and aspirations. The ANSAM also said the Nagas are fully committed to pursuing democratic norms and principles. “It should therefore be left to the will of the Nagas to decide how we choose to exercise our sovereign rights with Naga flag, Naga constitution and integration as the inalienable rights of the Naga people. Let us all strive in unison to achieve our collective aspirations ‘without fear and without reproach’,” the ANSAM further added.
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