NAGAS ARE DRAVIDIANS: THEY SPOKE TAMIL

[Dravida Peravai]

THE NAGALAND STRUGGLE:

N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai

The Nagaland struggle is based on few beliefs. “The Nagas who inhibit
the land of Nagaland are a different race who had been occupying their
land from time immemorial. Beginning from 1832 until 1947 a small
portion of Naga country was conquered by the British and was ruled by
their administration. As far as its relationship with its neighbor
India is concerned, prior to 1947, no Indian king or prince had ever
set foot on Naga country. Also prior to 1947 Nagas had no affinity
with India whether racially, historically, politically, culturally,
religiously or any other wise. Therefore Nagaland is not par of Indian
Territory neither Nagas are Indians’ writes Kaka.D.Iralu in the book
Nagaland and India: The Blood and Tears, distributed secretly to
Indian Members of Parliament in 2000.

“Prior to 1947 Indian subcontinent was a group of over 560 princely
states ruled b various Maharajas or Kings. When the Maharaja or King
of such state fell the whole state became a conquered territory. For
that matter Maratha Empire or any other princely states could be
considered as legitimate Indian Territory after 1947 not just because
they voluntarily conceded to be a party to the Indian Republic of
1947. The same is not applicable to Nagaland and Naga territories
because in first place Nagaland was never conquered by the British as
a state, neither did Nagas agree to join the Indian or Burmese Unions
of 1947” argues Kaka .D.Iralu.

Quoting from Phizo’s letter to then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
dated May 10 of 1986 he further ads “Jawaharlal Nehru understood this
fact clearly. On August 19, 1946 in connection with proposed British
colony of Coupland he described the Naga territories as the tribal
areas are defined as being long frontiers of India, which are neither
part of India nor Burma nor of Indian states nor of any foreign power”
The British on the eve of their departure from India toyed with the
idea of setting up a crown colony comprising all the eastern peoples
of the North Eastern region who were neither Burmese of Indian. The
Coupland plan would have created a crown colony with an area of
1,50,000 square miles comprising
Nagas,Karens,Kachins,Shans,Chins,Mons, and even Mizos, Khasis and
Assamese people. Such was the ground reality in Naga areas whereas
India had to face 562 princely states.

The then Foreign Secretary of India K.P.S.Menon described the
situation of India on the pre-independence years “When the British
left India, the unity of even divided India was in danger. Some 560
princely states had been left in the air. It was open to them to
adhere to India, to accede to Pakistan or to remain independent…. It
almost looked as if India was going to be Balkanized. But this danger
was averted by the firm handling of the Princes by the man of Iron,
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. ‘‘

Close on the heels of British Prime Minister Atlee’s policy
announcement of February 20 1947, Her Majesty’s Government decision to
withdraw from India by June 1948, The Times of London wrote “ Muslim
separatism is deriving encouragement from the language of the White
Paper. The Princes too drew similar encouragement. Under the
inspiration of the Political department, they began thinking in terms
of Third Dominion, which Churchill called Princestan. The Chamber of
Princes moved in that direction. The Nawab of Bhopal, who was the
Chancellor of the Chamber of Princes, asked the Princes of the chamber
to adopt wait and see policy and not to join India Constituent
assembly.”

Sir Conrad Corfield, the Secretary of the Political Department seemed
to be toying with the India of using the Princes as Third Force. The
Third Dominion dream suffered the setback when British Government
denial of states membership in the Commonwealth. Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel got a shot in his arm with the Prime Minister of Bikaneer
K.M.Panikkar conveying on March 10 th the Bikaneer Maharaja’s
decisions to participate without delay in the proceedings of the
Indian Constituent Assembly. The banner of revolt unfurled by
Travancore particularly by its Diwan Sir C.P.Ramasamy Iyer on May 9 th
of 1947 claimed that on the lapse of paramountcy on August 15
simultaneously with transfer of power to India, Travancore would
declare herself a free and independent state. Sardar Patel took up the
matter directly with the Maharaja of Travancore and in commanding
voice threatened as to who is putting roadblocks, which made the
Maharaja declare his decision to accede to India.

It is irony of fate that the Indian Union in sixties faced with the
ever growing mass popularity of separate Dravida Nadu demand
continuing even after so many years of freedom from British on the
plank of North neglecting South, in order to ban the Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam, the political party headed by Aringnar Anna, constituted a
National Integration Committee to collect views of people under the
Chairmanship of Sir C.P.Ramasamy Iyer, who once unfurled the banner of
revolt against Indian Union. The Malaimani, DMK’s weekly collected
blood signatures, and including this writer more than 50,000
signatures were sent to Sir.C.P.Ramasamy Committee on National
Integration. This single incidence proves how certain chameleons
change fast their colors and enjoy the fruits in every form of
governance.

To illustrate the case how many princely states fell for Indian Union,
let us take the example of Bastar, now a district in Madya Pradesh of
India. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel chanced to come across an official
file. It narrated how Bastar, whose Raja was a minor and weakling and
the Prime Minister a foreigner was mortgaged to Hyderabad state for
long lease. Patel called the King of Bastar, and he observed “I saw
the ruler. How young and inexperienced he was. I felt it was a sin to
make him sign such an agreement. It was then that I was made fully
conscious of the extent to which our interests were being prejudiced
in every way by the mechanizations of the Political Department, and
came to the conclusion that sooner we rid of these people, the better.
Their main aim was to further their own interests and to cause as much
damage to India as possible. I came to the conclusion that the best
course was to drive out the foreigners even at the cost of partition
of the country. It was also then that I felt that there was only one
way to take the country safe and strong, and that was unification of
India.”

It is a great achievement, particularly of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel,
who took less than two and half years for the integration of princely
states in Indian Union. The Indian bureaucracy did not match him can
be proven by citing one example of their failure to resolve a thorny
issue between Bangladesh and Indian Union, in spite of the euphoria
over India aiding the creation of Bangladesh. “The rulers of Kooch
Bihar and Rangpur within the Old Bengal Presidency lost their
territories to each other playing the gambling by cards. There are
till date 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 51 Bangladesh enclaves
within India, as a result of this gamble by 2 princely states.’ Yet no
one had the moral courage of Sardar Patel to resolve even this issue
which every government keeps in cold storage. The border dispute and
Kashmir dispute, why even the Nagaland issue evades a settlement, and
we are not supposed to blame anyone in our democracy.

The emergence of every nation has its own stories which had not seen
the light of history. Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru in page 224 of his book
The Glimpses of World History narrates the story of China integrating
into a nation.

:” The administration of Mongol empire must have been a very difficult
task. It is not surprising therefore that it began to split. Kublai
Khan died in 1292. After him there was no great Khan. The Empire
divided up into big areas.

The Empire of China including Mongolia, Manchuria and Tibet. This
empire was the principled one under Kublai Khan’s descendent of the
Yuan dynasty.

To the far west of Russia, Poland and Hungary was the Empire of the
Golden Horde as the Mongols were then called.

In Persia and Mesopotamia and part of Central Asia there was a great
Turkey as it was called, the Empire of Zagatai.

Between the Mongolia and Golden Horde there was the Siberian Empire of
the Mongols.

Mongol Empire was split up each of these five divisions it was a
mighty empire.”

This is the story of Mongol empire, its later day disintegration and
again unification as China in the age of nationalism. The Indian sub
continent was ruled by Tamils, their Empires disintegrated, deluge and
other natural calamities struck at the Tamil land. Later in British
period on their eve of departure there were 11 Presidencies and 562
princely states, which when the winds of nationalism blew over Indian
sub constituent were welded together as Indian Union under a
Constitution of India. The problems left over by colonialism, be it
border dispute with China or Kashmir still bleeds India. In that
problem galore falls Nagaland.

To the readers, the statement Tamils ruled India would at the outset
appear a tall and false claim. If I could present facts quoting the
Father of Indian Constitution Dr.B.R.Ambedkar such doubts will be laid
to rest. It would also establish the Tamil as mother tongue of Nagas,
who are Dravidians. Let us look at the conclusions Dr.B.R.Ambedkar had
reached in his scientific enquiry.

“It is thus clear that the Nagas and Dravidians are one and the same
people. Even with much proof, people may not be found ready to accept
this thesis. The chief difficulty in the way of accepting it lies in
the designation of the people of South India by the name Dravidian. It
is natural for them to ask why the term Dravidian has come to be
restricted to the people of South India if they are really Nagas.
Critics are bound to ask: If the Dravidians and Nagas are the same
people, why the name Nagas not used to designate people of South India
also. This is no doubt a puzzle. But it is a puzzle which is not
beyond solution. It can be solved if certain facts are borne in mind.
The first thing to be borne in mind is the situation regarding
language. Today the language of Southern India differs from that of
the people of North India.”

“The second thing to be borne into mind is that the word Dravida is
not an original word. It is the Sanskrit zed form of the word Tamil.
The original word Tamil when imported into Sanskrit became Damita and
later on Damila became Dravida. The word Dravida is the name of the
language of the people and does not denote the race of the people.

The third thing to remember is that Tamil or Dravida was not merely
the language of South India but before the Aryans came it was the
language of the whole of India and was spoken from Kashmir to
Kanyakumari. In fact it was the language of the Nagas throughout
India.

The next thing to note is the contact between Aryan and the Nagas and
the effect it produced on Nagas and their language. Strange as it may
appear the effect of this contact on the Nagas of North India was
quite different from the effect it produced on the Nagas of South
India. The Nagas in North India gave up Tamil which was their mother
tongue and adopted Sanskrit in its place. The Nagas in South India
retained Tamil as their mother tongue and did not adopt the Sanskrit
language of the Aryans.

If this difference is borne in mind it will help to explain why the
name Dravida came to be applied only for the people of South India.
The necessity for the application of the name Dravida to the Nagas of
North India had ceased because they had ceased to speak the Dravida
Language. The special application of the use of the word Dravida for
the people of South India must not therefore obscure the fact that the
Nagas and Dravidas are one and the same people. They are only two
different names for the same people. Nagas was a racial or cultural
name and Dravida was their linguistic name” concluded Dr.B.R.Ambedkar.

Dr.B.R.Ambedkar had tried to explain these questions “We often come
across four names Dravidians, Dasas, Nagas and Aryans. What do these
names indicate? These questions have never been considered. Are these
names Aryans, Dravidians, Dasas, and Nagas the names of different
races or are they merely different names for a people of same race?

“The general assumption is that they are different names. It is an
assumption on which theories like that of Mr. Rice, which seek to
explain the social structure of the Hindu Society, particularly its
class basis, are built. Before such a theory is accepted it is
necessary to examine its foundations. Starting with the Aryans it is
beyond dispute that they were not a single homogeneous people. They
were divided into two sections is beyond dispute. One of them may be
called Rig Vedic Aryans and the other Atharva Vedic Aryans. Their
cultural cleavage appears to be complete. The Rig Vedic Aryans
believed in Yajna. The Atharva Vedic Aryans believed the Magis. Their
mythologies were different, The Rig Vedic Aryans believed in Deluge
and the creation of their race from Manu. The Atharva Vedic Aryans did
not believe in Deluge but believed in the creation of their race from
Brahma or Prajapathi. Their literary developments also lay along
different paths. The Rig Vedic Aryans produced Brahmanas, Sutras and
Aranyakas. The Atarvavedic Aryans produced the Upanishads. Their
cultural conflict was not so great that the Rig Vedic Aryans would not
for long time admit the sanctity of the Atharvaveda nor of the
Upanishads and when they did recognize it did they call it Vedanta.
Vedanta which contrary to the current meaning of the word namely
essence of Vedanta originally meant something outside the boundary of
Vedas and therefore, not as sacred as the Vedas. Whether these two
sections of Aryans were two different races we do not know. We do not
know whether the word Aryan is indicative of race. Historians
therefore made a mistake in proceeding on the assumption that the
Aryans were a separate race.”

“A greater mistake lies in differentiating the Dasas from the Nagas.
The Dasas are same as Nagas. Dasas is merely another name for Nagas.
It is not difficult to understand how the Nagas came to be called
Dasas in Vedic literature. Dasa is Sanskritized form of the Indo-
Iranian word Dahaka. Dahaka was the name of the King of the Nagas.

{The detailed inputs with regards to this are in the Paper presented
by Miss Karunakara Gupta to the Third Session of Indian History
Congress -1939 titled Nagas and Naga Cult in Ancient Indian History.]

“Consequently the Aryans called the Nagas after the name of their king
Dahaka, which in Sanskrit form became Dasa a generic name applied to
all the Nagas”, says Dr.B.R.Ambedkar in his book The Untouchables.

Having arrived to the scene where Nagas are also known as Dasa, we are
wondering whether the names Bharathidasan, Kannadasan, Ramadasan,
Vanidasan etc wherever the surname was used as Dasa has more inner
meaning than what could be read at the outset. My grandfather is
Ramadas, then I can also claim of being a Dasa I am also a Naga. My
father’s name is Nagarattinam and if I could use his initial in Tamizh
my name had to be spelt as Naga. Nandhivarman. My sister’s name is
Dr.Naga.Sengamala Thayar. Such similarities apart we have plenty of
places within India called Nagapattinam, Nagore, and Nagpur and so on
proving the all India spread of Nagas.

Let us first finish the detailed analysis of the Father of Indian
Constitution Dr.B.R.Ambedkar before dealing many such similarities.

“Who were the Nagas? Undoubtedly they were Non_Aryans. A careful study
of Vedic literature reveals a spirit of conflict, of a dualism, and a
race for superiority between two distinct types of culture and
thought. In the Rig-Veda, we are first introduced to the Snake God in
the form of Ahi Vitra, the enemy of the Aryan God Indra. Naga, the
name under which the snake-god was to become so famous in later days,
does not appear in early Vedic literature. Even when it does for the
first time in Sathapatha Brahmana [XI.2, 7, 12] it is not clear
whether a great snake or a great elephant is meant. But this does not
conceal the nature of Ati Vitra, since he is described always in Rig-
Veda as the serpent who lay around or hidden in waters, and is holding
a full control over the waters of heaven and earthlike.”

“It is also evident from the hymns that refer to Ati Vitra, that he
received no worship from the Aryan tribes and was only regarded as an
evil spirit of considerable power who must be fought down.” So goes on
Dr.Ambedkar.

It is becoming evident that Snake cult as seen in the snake around the
neck of Lord Shiva or in the snake bed floating in the ocean of milk
where Lord Vishnu is holidaying, is not an Aryan element but a Non-
Aryan element. In every temple near the trees, people worship the
Snake God. Because to segregate these worship forms from the worship
forms of Aryans is highly laborious and impossible job, Periyar
E,V.Ramasamy wanted to throw all gods and goddesses into the dustbin
of past.

Dr.B.R.Ambedkar’s narration of Naga history follows: “The mention of
Naga in Rig-Veda shows that the Nagas were ancient people. It must
also be remembered that the Nagas in no way an aboriginal or
uncivilized people. History shows very close intermarriage between the
Naga people and Royal families of India. The Devanagari record of
Kadamba King Krishnavarman connects the beginning of the Kadambakula
with Nagas. The Royakota grant of 9 th century A.D mentions the
marriage of Asvathama with a Nagi and the foundation of the Pallava
line by Skandasishya, the issue of this marriage.

Virakurcha, who according to another Pallava inscription dated in the
9 th century A.D was the ruler of the dynasty, is also mentioned in
the same inscription as having married a Nagi and obtained from her
the insignia of royalty. The marriage of Gautamiputra, the son of the
Vakataka King Pravarsena with the daughter of Bharasiva King Bhava
Naga, is a historical fact. So is the marriage of Chandragupta II with
Princess Kuvera Naga of Naga kula. A Tamil poet asserts that Kokkilli,
an early Chozha king had married a Naga princess. Rajendra Chozha is
also credited to have won by his radiant beauty the hand of the noble
daughter of Naga race. The Navasahasanka Charita describes the
marriage of the Paramara king Sindhuraja, who seems to have reigned
towards the early part of the 10 th century A.D, with Naga princess
Sasiprabha, with such exhaustive details in so matter of fact manner
as to make us almost feel certain that there must have been some
historical basis for this assertion. From the Harsha inscription of
V.S.1030-973 A.D we know that Guvaka I, who is the sixth king in the
genealogy upwards from Vigraharaja Chahamana and thus might be
supposed to have been ruling towards the middle of 9 th century was
famous as hero in the assemblies of the Nagas and other princes.
Santikara of the Bhaumn dynasty of Orissa, one of whose dates was most
probably 921 A.D is mentioned in an inscription of his son as having
married Thirubuvana Mahadevi of the Naga family. Not only did Naga
people occupy a high cultural level but history shows that the ruled a
good part of India. That Maharastra is the home of Nagas goes without
saying. Its people and its kings were Nagas.”

This and more evidences produced by the scholarly presentation of
Dr.B.R.Ambedkar will run into pages and make this paper into a book

Mr.Dikshithar in his paper South India in Ramayana says “The Nagas,
another tribe in semi divine character with their totems as serpent
spread throughout India from Taksasila in the North West to Assam in
the North East and to Ceylon and South India in the South. At one time
they must have been powerful. Contemporaneous with the Yakwas or
perhaps subsequent to their fall as political entity, the Nagas rose
to prominence in South India. Not only parts of Ceylon but ancient
Malabar were the territories occupied by the Nagas…… In The Tamizh
classics of early centuries after Christ, we hear frequent references
to Naganadu…… Remnants of Naga worship still lingering in Malabar and
the temple in Nagerkoil in South Travancore is dedicated to Naga
worship even today. All that can be said about them is that they were
a sea faring tribe. Their womenfolk were renowned for their beauty.
Apparently Nagas had become merged with the Cheras who rose to power
and prominence at the commencement of Christian era.

Mr.C.F.Oldham in The Sun and Serpent states:

“The Dravidian people have been divided from ancient times into
Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas. Chera or Sera [in old Tamizh sarai] is the
Dravidian equivalent for Naga. Cheramandala, Nagadwipa or the Naga
country. This seems to point distinctly to the Asura origin of the
Dravidians of South. But in addition to this there still exists,
widely spread over the Ganges valley, a people who call themselves
Cherus or Seoris, who claim descent from serpent gods. The Cherus are
of very ancient race, they are believed to have once held a great
portion of the valley of Ganges, which as we have already seen, was
occupied in very early times by Naga tribes. The Cherus appear to have
been gradually ousted from their lands, during the troubled times of
the Mohammedan invasions, and they are now poor and almost landless.
There can be little doubt that these people are kinsmen of the
Dravidian Cheras.

The Cherus have several peculiar customs and amongst them one which
seems to connect them with the Lichhavis, as well as with the Newars
of Nepal. This is the election of a raja for every five or six houses,
and his investiture, in due form, with the tilak or royal frontal
mark. Both Lichavis and Newars had many customs in common with the
Dravidians of the South. Each venerated the serpent. Karkota Naga
being to Nepal what Nila Naga was to Kashmir. A Naga too, was the
tutelary deity of Vaishali, the Lichchavi capital. The martial
relations of Newars and Lichavis closely resembled those of Tamil
people and go far to show a common origin.

Property amongst Newars descended in the female line, as it once did
amongst the Arattas, Bahikas or Takhas of the Punjab, whose sister’s
sons, and not their own, were their heirs. This is still a Dravidian
custom. In short, a recent Dravidian writer Mr.Balakrishna Nayar says
that his people appear to be in nearly every particular, the kinsfolk
of the Newars. Besides all this, however, there are other links
connecting the Naga people of the South with those of the North of
India. In an inscription discovered by Colonel Toad at Kanswah near
the river Chambal, a Raja, Called Salindra of the race of Sarya, a
tribe renowned amongst the tribes of the mighty is said to be the
ruler of Takhya. This was evidently the Takhya kingdom of the Punjab
which was visited by Hiou-en-tsiang. It seems Naga people of Takhya
were known also by the name Sarya. Again in the outer Himalayas
between Sutlej and Beas valleys, is a tract of country called Sara or
Seoraj. In this district the Naga demigods are the chief deities
worshipped. There is another Seoraj in the upper Chinab valley, and
this is too occupied by a Naga worshipping people.

The name Saraj or Seoraj appears to be same as the Sarya of Colonel
Tod’s inscription and as Seori, which is the alternative name of the
Cherus of the Ganges valley. It seems to be identical with Sarai,
which we have already seen, is the old name for the Chera or Naga.
Apparently therefore the Saryas or Takhya, the Saraj people of the
Sutlej valley, the Seoris or Cherus of the valley of Ganges, and the
Cheras, Seras or Keralas of Southern India, are but different branches
of the same Naga worshipping people.

It may be noted that in some Himalayan dialects, Kira or Kiri means
serpent. This name from which was perhaps derived the term Kirate so
often applied to the people of Himalayas. is found in Rajatarangani,
where it is applied to a people in or near Kashmir. The Kiras are
mentioned by Viraha Mihira in the copper plate published by Professor
Keilhorn.

An inscription at the Baijnath Temple in the Kangra Valley gives
Kiragrams as the then name of the place. This in local dialect would
mean the village of serpents. The Naga is still a popular deity at
Baijnath and throughout the neighboring country. The term Kira is thus
an equivalent for Naga and it ca be scarcely doubted that serpent
worshipping Kiras of the Himalaya were closely related to the
Dravidian Kera, Cheras, or Kerals of South. Similarity of name is not
always to be trusted, but here we have something more. These people,
whose designation is thus apparently the same, are all of solar race,
they are all venerating the hooded serpent, and they all worship, as
ancestors, the Naga demigods.

From the foregoing it would seem tolerably certain that the Dravidian
of Southern India were of the same stock as the Nagas or Asuras of the
North.”

So far we had dealt extensively quoting lengthy passages from
Dr.B.R.Amebedkar and from the sources he relied upon to arrive at a
new fact. It is been a difficult task to match the genius who had
logically presented his views arguing like an effective lawyer of
history. Hence instead of quoting few lines, the necessity arose to
quote pages.

Dr.B.R.Ambedkar is a genius who had dealt in depth about the racial
question that dominates Indian history, society and political space.
In his collected works Volume 7 Ambedkar wrote about the Shudra
history quoting extensively from Vedic texts.

He says “The Aryan race theory is so absurd that it ought to have been
dead long ago. But far from being dead the theory has a considerable
hold upon the people. There are two explanations which account for
this phenomenon. The first explanation is to be found in the support
which this theory receives from the Brahmin scholars. This is very
strange phenomenon. As Hindus, they should ordinarily show a dislike
for the Aryan theory with its express avowal of the superiority of the
European races over the Asiatic races. But the Brahmin scholar has not
only no such aversion but he most willingly hails it. The reasons are
obvious. The Brahmin believes in the two nation theory. He claims to
be the representative of the Aryan race and he regards the rest of
Hindus as descendents of non-Aryans. The theory helps him to establish
his kinship with the European races and share their arrogance and
superiority. He likes particularly that part of the theory which makes
the Aryan an invader and a conqueror of non-Aryan races. For it helps
him to maintain and justify his over lordship over the non-
Brahmins.” [Page 80 Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches
published by Education Department of Government of Maharashtra in
1990]

It has become imperative to deal the Aryan theory first before we
arrive at the Dravidian or Naga racial theories. The new light shed by
Dr.Ambedkar will be of immense help to understand the racial question
and the subsequent racial conflict that dominates Indian minds for
some centuries.

“The second explanation why the Aryan race theory is not dead is
because of the general insistence by European scholars that the word
varna means color and acceptance of the view by a majority of Brahmin
scholars. Indeed this is the mainstay of the Aryan theory. There is no
doubt that as long as this interpretation of the varna continues to be
accepted, the Aryan theory will continue to live “wrote Ambedkar on 10
th October 1946.

That is in Indian context. Till date we have in every town hotels
named as Aryan Bhavan more particularly in Tamilnadu than elsewhere
proving the mindset had not changed even in times when scientists
debate whether there is a genetic basis for race. Scientists say it is
nothing more than political prejudice, and let us examine the ground
reality.

“The genetic basis of race ad the superiority of one of them over the
other died a sudden death during the 1936 Aryan Supremacy Olympics in
Berlin. That was when Jesse Owens, a black United States athlete,
exploded in the track and field events. He won four gold medals and
broke number of world records simultaneously. Hitler refused to shake
hands with him and instead stormed out of the stadium in disgust at
the star’s triumph over his much hyped Nordic Caucasian team. This
reopened the most disastrous chapter of the modern 20 th century
eugenic movement. It also led to the renewed politicization of race.
It was subsequently used by the Nazis in the thirties and forties to
justify genocide. It was the rational for the holocaust and whole sale
extermination of Jews, gypsies and other so called disease carrying
low IQ, morally bankrupt ethnic groups solely on the basis of
fundamental genetic in equality. There was never and still is not a
single shred of evidence for dividing a species from one ancient
African mitochondrial DNA into superior or inferior races” wrote The
Times of India, leading English daily in its Mumbai edition’s
editorial dated 1st November 2004.

The color prejudice myth must have to be exposed. Professor Ripley in
his book Races of Europe [page 466] asserts that earliest Europeans
were of dark complexion. “We are strengthened in this assumption that
the earliest Europeans were not only long headed but also dark
complexioned, by various points of enquiry thus far. Judged therefore
either in the light of general principles or of local details, it
would seem as if the earliest race in Europe must have been very dark.
“

It is a matter of concern how color prejudice created castes in India
though nowhere in the world such a cruel system of suppression exists,
that too with religious sanction. The word religion itself is derived
from Latin word religare, which meant bundle of beliefs. Among the
bundle of such beliefs, the caste prejudice inculcated in Indian minds
is mental slavery that rules the roost till date.

Dr.B.R.Ambedkar says “ Turning to the Vedas for any indication whether
the Aryans had ay color prejudice, in Rig Veda i.117.8 there is a
reference to Ashvins having brought about the marriage between Shyavya
and Rushati. Shyavya is black and Rushati is fair.

In Rig Veda i.117.5 there is a prayer addressed to Ashvins for having
saved Vandana who is spoken as of golden color. I Rig Veda ii.3.9
there is a prayer by an Aryan invoking the Devas to bless him with a
son with certain virtues but of [pishanga] tawny [reddish brown]
complexion.

These incidents, Ambedkar say shows that the Vedic Aryans had no color
prejudice. How could they have? The Vedic Aryans were not of one
color. Their complexion varied, some were of copper complexion, some
white and some black. Rama, the son of Dasaratha has been described as
Shyama i.e. dark in complexion, so is Krishna the descendent of Yadus,
another Arya clan. The Rishi Dirghatamas who is the author of many
mantras in Rig Veda must have been dark in complexion. Kanva is an
Aryan rishi of great repute. But according to the description given in
Rig Veda x.31.11 he was of dark color.

“To take up the meaning of the word Varna, and to see in what sense it
is used in Rig-Veda, Ambedkar does a word count of all hymns of Rig-
Veda. The word Varna is used in Rig Veda in 22 places. Of these in
about 17 places the word is used in reference to deities such as
Ushas, Agni, Soma etc, and means luster, features or color. Being used
in connection with deities, it would be unsafe to use them for
ascertaining what meaning the word Varna had in Rigveda when applied
to human beings. There are four and at the most five places in the Rig-
Veda where the word is used in reference to human beings. Having dealt
the word extensively and intensively in Rig-veda Dr.Ambedkar traces
the word in Indo-Iranian literature. He says the word Varana or Varena
in Zend Avesta used in the sense of faith, religious doctrine, choice
or creed or belief.’

This evidence from Zend Avesta, Dr.Ambedkar opines as to the meaning
of the word Varna leaves no doubt that it originally meant a class
holding to a particular faith and it had nothing to do with color or
complexion. Then Dr.Ambedkar summarizes his findings by saying that
the Vedas do not know any such race as the Aryan race. He further adds
that there is no evidence in the Vedas of any invasion of India by the
Aryan race and its having conquered the Dasas and Dasyus supposed to
be natives of India. There is no evidence to show the distinction
between Aryans, Dasas, and Dasyus was a racial distinction. The Vedas
do not support the contention that the Aryans were different in color
from the Dasas and Dasyus.

It would need a lengthy argument to say that all humans are one, and
all human beings have a common gene called sangene in them. We have to
quote extensively from the book Journey of Man by Spencer Wells to
prove that first human beings originated in Africa and they are black.
Instead we will quote a report in The Hindu, a daily dated December 14
Saturday 2002. ‘There is bad news for those who have notions of racial
or intellectual superiority. New genetic evidence collected from
across the globe shatters the myths and adds a body of proof to the
hypothesis that all people are descended from a single man in Africa,
who lived approximately 60,000 years ago. Tune in to National
Geographic Channel on TV on Sunday at 9.P.M, and come face to face
with evidence gathered by geneticist Spenser Wells and her
collaborators including R.M.Pitchaiappan of Madurai Kamaraj
University.

The fascinating Journey of Man from Africa to Central Asia, and
thereon to Asia, Australia besides separate moves westward to Europe
and beyond is all documented in a two hour special. Genetics has a way
of mapping biological reality and as Dr.Wells and her fellow
scientists studied in places as varied as Artic to the Australian
aborigines, they found stunning evidence unraveled by genetic markers.
Some of the evidence is found right here at home, as the programme
briefly points out. Piramalai Kallars, who form the majority
population in Usilampatti and Thirumangalam near Madurai in Tamilnadu,
were studied for health reasons by Professor Pitchaiappan initially,
but the genetic evidence was leading to other exciting conclusions,
that the Piramalai Kallars had the same unique genetic markers as
those found in the African and Australian studies, and markers found
in Central Asian people.

Professor Pitchaiappan’s findings which were also backed up by similar
findings about significant levels of the same gene markers in Yadavas
and Saurashtra communities., lead to the postulation of a Cape Comerin
route of migration of Man from Africa to Australia. Some evidence also
points to markers from Middle Eastern peoples. The study by Piramalai
Kallar and other communities which are described by geneticists as sub
divided gene pools, points to migratory evidence from genetic markers
such as M130 [50,000 years old] and M20, the latter estimated to be
35,000 years old and derived from the former. The ancestors of the
Kallars might have expanded from the Middle East, postulates Professor
Pitchaiappan who heads the Department of Immunology. Yet other markers
like the M172 [ found in Baluchis and also Yadhavas] and M17 [found in
Central Asians and also in Saurastrians ] fuel the excitement that
people essentially moved over thousands of years from one part of the
globe to another, where they settled down. Features got differentiated
due to isolation of the population and climatic factors. Journey of
Man unifies the world, and let genetics do the talking, wrote The
Hindu Reporter G.Ananthakrishnan.

The spread of human race from Africa is best illustrated in the web
pages of www.bradshawfoundation.com, where they show the chart of the
spread with time frame. The fact to be borne in mind is that in spite
of prejudice destined to disappear as universal reason, scientific
progress and information age enlightening our intellect; it seems to
be the contrary in Indian society still clinging to caste prejudices.

Our society had failed to root out prejudices. Immanuel Kant described
Enlightenment as man’s release from self incurred tutelage. We still
live under such mental tutelage accepting Aryan supremacy and our
inferiority status in caste hierarchy. It is here the argument of
Ambedkar assumes great importance. If the Aryan race theory is buried
its counter theory the Dravidian theory too had to go. It would be
appropriate here to mention that first Non-Brahmin Movement came into
existence. Then it assumed the name of Self Respect Movement before
settling for the word Dravidian movement. Dravidian movement is an
uprising against the oppressors and their theory of supremacy on earth
by birth with religious sanction. Therefore Dravidian movement could
be placed among the human emancipation movements all through the human
history.

The word India, Hindu and Indus came from the Indus Valley
civilization, which is beyond an iota of doubt is Dravidian
civilization. Hence usage of Hindu and Hinduvta by the Aryan camp aims
to mislead the indigenous people of this sub continent to bring all
under the Aryan umbrella, so there will be constant attacks on the
weak links or missing links in history to prove the Brahminical
religion as Hindu religion, not allowing to retrieve the other
elements like Naga worship or Murugan worship to establish they were
different but woven into mythologies to create a façade of one
religion. When Dr.Subramanian Swamy wrote an article in The Frontline
dated July 18-2003 to blast the Dravidian Movement, only two leaders
from Dravidian movement wrote a rejoinder, one being then General
Secretary of Dravida Kazhagam K.Veeramani and me. Let me quote few
paragraphs from what I wrote

“All humans are one and scientific studies have revealed that there
exists a common gene in all human beings and that common gene is
called sangene. The mapping of human genes for 50 years had thrown
more light on the oneness of humanity, as theories of continental
drift, especially the map fit theory, had proved beyond an iota of
doubt that all continents were held together once and drifted. So to
make all brains free from superiority complex and accept that humanity
is one and the world is one, science had to unearth mysteries. The
common gene in every human being had also proven that the theories of
race are culture oriented. While race is disproved both Aryan and
Dravidian theories have to die. Perhaps Dr.Swamy wants the Aryan
concept too to die and if that were the case, one can welcome to some
extent his wishful thinking. The Second World War waged by Hitler
propounding the supremacy of the Aryan race, which he demonstrated
with the killings of millions of Jews, still reminds us that whoever
claims superiority over fellow beings in the name of his race of birth
will be taught a befitting lesson by mankind.”

Dr.Ambedkar says that the theory of Aryan race is just an assumption
and nothing more. It is based on the philological proposition put
forth by Dr.Bopp in his epoch-making book called the Comparative
Grammar which appeared in 1835. In this book Dr.Bopp demonstrated that
a greater number of languages in Europe and some languages in Asia
must be referred to common ancestral speech. The European languages
and the Asiatic languages to which Dr.Bopp’s proposition applied are
called Indo-Germanic. Collectively they have come to be called the
Aryan languages because Vedic language refers to Aryans and is also
the same family as the Indo Germanic. This assumption is the major
premise on which the theory of Aryan race is based “

It will also be appropriate that Robert Caldwell’s Comparative Grammar
of Dravidian Languages published in 1860 led to the emergence of the
word Dravidian race that speaks Dravidian languages. Hence in the
light of scientific evidences that prove race is illusionary concept,
we have to understand the struggle between Dravidian versus Aryan as
struggle between languages. At the moment more than 73 Dravidian
languages have been identified and in the quest to find the common
language of humanity, within the Nostratic School, there are two
strong contenders from Dravidian and Aryan language families.

The grammatical principle laid out in Tholkappiam which dates back to
2872 years to eschew Sanskrit letters and use chaste Tamizh, according
to scholars is the day the foundations for Dravidian movement is laid.
It began as a fight between Tamizh and Sanskrit, which continued in
different forms all through these centuries.

It would be beyond the scope of this paper to discuss Aryanization or
Sanskritization of India where other cultural identities got lost, but
the script Devanagari used for Hindi demonstrates that Naga script had
been adopted for languages without a script on its own. To clear many
a confusion books in Pali language or Prakirutham apart from ancient
Tamizh have to be dealt in detail. So we leave it here after proving
the Pan-Indian nature of Nagas now reduced to Nagaland, a tiny state
in North Eastern part of Indian subcontinent.

The British Interregnum

On the question of British and their connection with Nagas, Kaka
D.Iralu says “The Naga people were independent and their country was
not subjugated by Ahom kings of the Assam valley, who ruled for 700
years. The Naga Hills never formed part of Assam or India at any time
before the advent of the British. Little was known of Nagaland when
British obtained suzerainty over the Assam valley by the Treaty of
Yandabu. The British first attacked the Naga people in 1839 but the
fight went on for fifty years till the Ao Naga country was taken over
in 1889.Since then Naga people have remained loyal, friendly and
peaceful. In the First World War, thousands of Naga people served in
distant France to help the British and Allied cause. In Second World
War when the Japanese attempted to invade India through the Naga
Hills, it was the cooperation of the Nagas both in intelligence and
jungle warfare which enabled the British to halt the invasion at
Kohima, thus saving Assam and rest of India from devastations of war.
These freedom loving Nagas took with His Majesty’s Government and
Government of India to do the just ad proper thing and grant them
their just demand for setting up an Interim Government of the Naga
people.”

The first ever attempt by Naga people rallied under the banner of Naga
club at Kohima was to submit a memorandum to Simon Commission on 10 th
January 1929. It that memorandum they state “Before the British
Government conquered our country in 1879-1880, we were living in a
state of intermittent warfare with the Assamese of Assam Valley to the
North and West of our country and the Manipuris to the South. They
never conquered us, nor were we subjected to their rule. On the other
hand, we were always a terror to these people. Our country within the
administered areas consists of more than 8 tribes, quite different
from one another with quite different languages which cannot be
understood by each other, and there are more tribes outside the
administered area which are not known at present. We have no unity
among us and it is only the British Government that is holding us
together now. Our education at present is poor. The occupation of our
country by the British Government being so recent as 1880, e had no
chance or opportunity to improve in education and though we can boast
of two or three graduates of an Indian University in our country, we
have not got one yet who is able to represent all our different tribes
or master our languages much less one to represent us in any council
or province. Moreover, our population numbering 10, 2000 is very small
in comparison with the population of plain districts in the province,
and any representation that may be allotted to us in the council will
be negligible and will have no weight whatever. Our language is quite
different from those of the plains and we have no social affinities
with Hindus or Muslims. We are looked down upon by the one for our
beef and other for our pork, and by both for want of education which
is not due to any fault of ours. [This reminds me of the agitation by
Rationalist Association of Puducherry in 1978 when in public we ate
beef and pork and declared we are neither Hindus nor Muslims but are
Dravidians] Our country is poor and it does not pay for its
administrations. Therefore if it is continued to be placed under the
Reformed Scheme we are afraid that new and heavy taxes will have to be
imposed on us and when we cannot pay them all our lands will have to
be sold and in the long run we shall have no share in the land of our
birth and life will not be worth living then. Though our land at
present is within British territory, Government have always recognized
our private rights in it, but if we are forced to enter the council of
majority all these rights may be extinguished by the unsympathetic
council, the majority of whose number is sure to belong to the plain
districts.

We also have much fear the introduction of foreign laws and customs to
supersede our own customary laws which we now enjoy. For the above
reasons we pray that the British Government will continue to safeguard
our rights against all encroachments from other people who are more
advanced than us by withdrawing our country from the Reformed Scheme
and placing it under its own protection. If the British Government,
however, wants to throw us away, we pray that we should not be thrust
to the mercy of the people who could never have conquered us by
themselves and to whom we were never subjected, but to leave us alone
to determine for ourselves as in ancient times. We claim, not only
members of the Naga Club, to represent all those tribes to which we
belong- Angamis, Kacha Nagas, Kukis, Semas, Lothas and Rengmas “ This
memorandum was signed by Nihu of Angami tribe and 19 others.

Meanwhile Indian Constituent Assembly in 1946 constituted a sub
committee for the North Eastern region with Gopinath Bordoloi as
Chairman, N.V.Thakar, B.N.Rao [Secretary], Rev.Nicholas Roy, T.Aliba
Imti and two co-opted members Pu Khawtinkhuma and Pu Saprawgna. This
sub committee met in Shillong and all other members except one signed
to join the Indian Union. The President of Naga National Council
T.Aliba Imti refused to sign and staged a walk out. This is also a
noteworthy historical event in the Naga struggle.

On 19 th February 1947, the Naga National Council passed a resolution
in which it stated ‘Anyone who turns his eyes on the map of India will
find Assam as the eastern most part of the sub- continent and one of
her eastern districts is the present Naga Hills. That district was
carved out of arbitrarily for administrative purposes. But the Naga
people are spread over a wider area, and they are to be found in the
Naga Hills district proper, the un-administered area between Assam and
Burma, in the small native state of Manipur in Assam, in the north
Cachar hills and even in contiguous parts of Burma. The area covered
by the Naga people will thus extend to some thirty thousand square
miles, though the Naga Hills District [administered portion] alone
covers an area of 4000 square miles.

A delegation of 9 Naga leaders including A.Z.Phizo met Mahatma Gandhi
at Bhanghi colony Delhi on July 19 th 1947 “If Mahatma Gandhi had
been a living man today there would not have arisen the necessity for
the Nagas to take a nation wide Plebiscite on their stand for
independence. Mahatma Gandhi considered it was within their lawful
right for the Nagas to be independent, if desired of India. Making
this statement, the Mahatma expressed his readiness to stake his life
in defense of Naga right as well as of India’s honor, for he felt
India had no right to make a forcible incorporation of Nagaland within
Indian Union”, writes Kaka D.Iralu

“Prior to 1947 the Naga National Council had communicated its wishes
both to India and Britain and the world that it would form a sovereign
democratic Republic called Nagaland. When India refused to recognize
these rights the Naga National Council declared Nyasaland’s
independence on 14 th August 1947.” Says Iralu.

The interim constitution of Nagaland, who had declared independence
from India, was adopted at Wokha on 25 th October 1947. A.Z.Phizo was
arrested on 19 th July 1948 and the letter he wrote from prison
demonstrates his patriotism.

The patriotism of Nagas and their freedom loving spirit could be
proved by the Naga refusal to accept the Coupland plan aimed at
creation of crown colony. The Naga leader Phizo in his letter to then
Indian Governor General C.Rajagopalachari, dated 22 November 1948
wrote; “Our immediate problem was to fight a colonial scheme. It was
well known to Indian leaders that British wanted to establish a colony
known as North Eastern agency. The best brains of the Nagas were
wholeheartedly with the British in the scheme. That was part of their
spontaneous loyalty. The British could easily have got 100,000 square
miles or more and colonize it, protest or no protest. It was not
difficult for them to get even 200,000 square miles because much more
than that was in fluid state with the people entirely Pro-British in
their attitude. This may appear to be fantastic but a careful study of
the area will show the possibility of maintaining two parts.

One is Manngdow-Buthidannj region with Chittakong to be a free port
for some time as the British cannot think of a state without an outlet
of seaport. Then, the other one is the Moulmein-Tavoy region to the
sea where the well known loyal British made Karens predominate with
Mons and other hill people. Above Tenesarim division there are Shan
and the Shan states, then Chins and Kachins with the Karens who form
the best soldiers in Burma and who were loyal to the British. They
would choose living in a British colony than in an independent Burma.
In upper Burma the portion towards Myitkina region of Hukong-Mogok
Valley, then towards Assam through Naga territory including Kabaw
Valley with Manipur state [ two thirds of the state belong to hill
men] then Lushai Hills down to Chittakong Hill tracts of Maungdaw-
Buthidannj region to the sea. Further up towards Sadiya there are
Abore, Miris and Mishmis and Tirap frontier. All this, if it were made
a reality with the full support of the hill people could have become a
state of some importance from the very day of its birth without having
to worry about internal disturbances from the very inception as people
have a brotherly feeling toward one another.” This is the letter of
A.Z.Phizo who became later President of Naga National Council from
1950-1990. This shows the deep desire of Naga leaders to be
independent of either British or Indian rule. The pro-British sympathy
or gratitude towards British stems from the fact that education denied
by Vedic Aryans was first time thrown open to tribal people.
The Government of India took many steps to retain Nagaland within
Indian Union. The following Pact was in that direction. The Naga
problem as viewed from the Government of India’s side and its conflict
resolution attempts need to be mentioned here. Sir Akbar Hydari,
Governor of Assam arrived at a Pact with Naga leaders on June 1947.

Judicial ‘All cases whether civil or criminal arising between Nagas in
the Naga Hills will be disposed of by duly constituted Naga courts
according to Naga customary law or such law as may be introduced with
the consent of duly recognized Naga representative organizations, save
that where a sentence of transportation or death has been passed there
will be a right of appeal to the Governor.

Executive: The general principle is accepted that what the Naga
council is prepared to pay for the Naga Council should control. This
principle will equally apply to the work done as well as the staff
employed. While the District Officer will be appointed at the
discretion of the Governor, sub divisions of the Naga Hills should be
administered by a Sub Divisional Council with a full time Executive
President paid by the Naga council for all matters failing within
their responsibility. In regard to Agriculture- the Naga Council will
exercise all the powers now vested with the District Officer. [b] CWD:
The Naga Council would take over full control [c] Education and Forest
Department: The Naga Council is prepared to pay for all the services
and staff.

Legislative : That no laws passed by the provincial or central
legislature which would materially affect the terms of this agreement
or the religious practices of the Nagas shall have legal force in the
Naga Hills without the consent of the Naga Council. In cases of
dispute as to whether any law did so affect this agreement the matter
would be referred by the Naga Council to the Governor who would then
direct that the law in question should not have legal force in the
Naga Hills pending the decision of the Central Government.

Land: The land with all its resources in the Naga Hills should not be
alienated to a Non-Naga without the consent of the Naga council.

Taxation: The Naga Council will be responsible for the imposition,
collection and expenditure of land revenue and house tax and such
other taxes as may be imposed by the Naga Council.

Boundaries : The present administrative divisions should be modified
as to bring back into the Naga Hills district all the forests
transferred to the Sibsagar and Nowgong Districts in the past and to
bring under one unified administrative unit as far as possible all
nagas. All the areas so included would be within the scope of the
present proposed agreement. No areas should be transferred out of Naga
Hills without the consent of Naga Council.

Arms Act: The Deputy Commissioner will act on the advice of the Naga
Council in accordance with the provisions of Arms Act.

Regulations: The Chin Hills regulations and the Bengal Eastern
Frontier Regulations will remain in force.

Period of the Agreement: The Governor of Assam as the Agent of the
Government of Indian Union will have special responsibility for a
period of 10 years to ensure the due observance of this agreement, at
the end of this period the Naga Council will be asked whether they
require the above agreement to be extended for a further period or a
new agreement regarding the future of the Naga people arrive at.’

Certain clauses were interpreted differently by both sides. Nagas
claimed their right to secede after 10 years and India insisting that
is not correct interpretation. Finally the agreement was discarded in
1951. In between on 30 th December 1949 the Naga National Council
which was the administrative authority in the Naga Hills excluded
area, announced a Sovereign State of Nagaland. July 4 of 1954 the Naga
Supreme Court was set up. January 14 th of 1956 the Naga Constitution
approved, so goes of the various acts aimed in furtherance of the
cause of freedom by the rebel Nagas, while Government exhausted
various ideas to keep Nagaland within Indian Union. Indian Government
handed over the responsibility to the Indian Army in 1956. Assam
Maintenance of Public Order 1953, Assam Disturbed Areas Act 1955,
Armed Forces[Special Powers}regulations 1958, Armed Forces [Assam,
Manipur] special Power Ordinance 1958, Nagaland Security regulation
1962 and so many acts, so many battles, so much blood shed, yet Naga
problem remains without a logical conclusion and reasonable solution.

Let us take a break here and land in 2008 to know the position of the
Nagaland, a truncated state, not the one it was in fifties, having
been divided into Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland
states within India and Myanmar owning its own share of Nagas land.

President Rule in Nagaland-2008

On January 6 th of 2008 Allaying fears that President's Rule might
provide free hand to armed forces, Nagaland Governor K Shankaranarayan
has said maintenance of law and order would be his top priority.”
President’s Rule means civil rule, not army rule, where the civil
administration, police and governor have to run the government
efficiently and smoothly," he said in view of some political parties
and organizations' assertion that President's Rule meant army rule
leading to sufferings of the people. Addressing a security co-
ordination meeting at police headquarters yesterday, the governor
asked the police and paramilitary forces to remain alert. Reports the
Press Trust of India’s news.

Thepfulhouvi Solo, a political commentator in Nagaland Post wrote;
‘The President Rule in the State is not something to be proud of as
some Politicians may welcome it gloriously; it is not something as
evil as some other Politicians may condemn it. If the President Rule
is welcome, it is not the Electorates that have brought it; if it is
unwelcome it is not the common Citizens that are responsible for it.
Whether good or evil; whether one likes it or not, it is our political
Representatives that are responsible for the President Rule in
Nagaland. It has come about not due to this or that Citizens becoming
Unruly or Violent; it came because our political Representatives did
not carry on the democratic processes.’

It is regrettable, our political Representatives have not brought
honor to Nagas and we are not very proud of them for this. It appears
the precious Naga independent differing opinion from fellowman without
intention to oppose is getting eroded in today's Naga politics and any
differing opinion is construed as opposition to other's self-
preservation. It is unfortunate the people and the Media describe
Party not in the Government as "Opposition Group" as if everything in
them is for Opposition. It is regrettable Nagas cannot differ and get
along in good nature with one another without being taken as a foe;
Can we differ in opinions but not opponent to one another?

President Rule is a Stopgap device, at worst a democratic step: It is
not "Army Rule" though the President is the Commander in Chief of the
Armed Forces. President Rule does not continue for years indefinitely,
otherwise a pleasant tendency develops in the 'Servants' to behave
like Ministers and behave like the Master of the Feast! President Rule
is an interim device modern Democracy has devised to introduce
democratic Processes of Government in the State. Fortunately in
Nagaland the Assembly Election is just at the corner and it is hoped
nothing extraneous would arise necessitating the continuance of the
President Rule beyond the necessary time.

This is the situation of Nagaland today but at same time from the side
of insurgents there are certain disturbance developments.

Three separatist rebel groups in India's northeast have launched a
fresh initiative in 2007 to activate a pan-Mongoloid grouping it had
floated in 1990 for a joint revolutionary struggle in the Indo-Myanmar
region..

In 2006 at Thailand rebel leaders from the northeast met secretly to
revamp the Indo-Burma Revolutionary Front (IBRF). Kughalo Mulatonu, a
top leader of the S.S. Khaplang faction of the National Socialist
Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K) declared to the media. The IBRF was
formed on May 22, 1990, by a frontline rebel group in Manipur, the
United National Liberation Front (UNLF), along with other insurgent
groups operating in the region like the NSCN-K and the United
Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). The coalition was then aimed at
waging a 'united struggle for the independence of Indo-Burma', but
failed to act as a cohesive grouping and gradually became defunct.

'Representatives from the NSCN-K, ULFA and the UNLF attended the
meeting in Thailand. Other groups like the People's Liberation Army,
People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (Prepak) and the Kanglei
Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL), all operating in Manipur state, have also
expressed their desire to come under the grouping,' Mulatonu said.
Asked whether the rebel groups have plans to intensify their
insurrection against the government under a common platform, Mulatonu
said: 'The idea is not to launch a joint campaign against India or
Burma (Myanmar). The idea is to usher in greater unity among the
people in the region.'

The NSCN-K leader, however, warned that if India and Myanmar were to
push the rebels to the wall with continued military offensives, they
would be compelled to strike back with a vengeance. 'If we are not
disturbed, we shall work for unity among those living in the region
under our new grouping that will be a federal front,' Mulatonu said.
The grouping will have a new name. 'We are awaiting opinions from our
other likely partners like the PLA, Prepak and KYKL before we
formalize the nomenclature and other details of the grouping,' the
rebel leader said.

Coalitions among insurgent groups in the northeast have come up from
time to time, mainly to act as force multipliers to offset the
sustained and coordinated counter-insurgency operations by the
security forces. In the mid-90s, the Isak-Muivah faction of the NSCN
had taken the initiative to form similar fronts. The idea was aimed at
turning its war against the Indian state into a war of the
nationalities of the region. To achieve this objective, the NSCN (IM)
formed the ULFSS (United Liberation Front of Seven Sisters) in 1993
and SDUFSEHR (Self-Defense United front of the South-East Himalayan
Region) in November 1994. These two groupings too do not seem to be
active now. [Syed Zarir Hussain]

CONCLUSION:

Among the various proposals put forth to resolve the Naga problem, a
fresh idea attracted my attention. By an unknown author in net it says
““Soon after Pakistan came into existence in 1947, irregular armed
raiders from Pakistan infiltrated into Kashmir with a view to take
control over it by force. In terms of the Indian Independence Act
1947, the then ruler of Jammu and Kashmir signed deed of accession to
India. As a result, in law, Jammu and Kashmir became an integral part
of India. Thereupon, the Indian government sent its forces and pushed
the infiltrators out from the Kashmir valley.

As a gesture of goodwill to the people of Kashmir and confident that
they were with India, the Indian leadership ordered cease fire and
offered plebiscite, provided Pakistan vacated the territory still in
its illegal occupation. Pakistan never vacated it and kept pressing
for plebiscite. To press its demand, it has been encouraging
infiltration of armed terrorists in Kashmir.

According to India, since Pakistan never vacated the territory in its
illegal occupation, the plebiscite has become in fructuous and Kashmir
has now become an integral part of India. This dispute has led to
three wars between India and Pakistan, and ongoing tension on the line
of control. The people of Kashmir are being subjected to violence,
terrorism and instability.

Soon after the formation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949,
the Chinese totalitarian government entered Tibet, then an independent
nation of peace loving religious people of ethnic origin different
from that of the people of China, and claimed sovereignty over it.
Since then, Dalai Lama, the religious leader of Tibet and over hundred
thousand people have been living as refugees in India. The Chinese
totalitarian government also created a border dispute with India and
occupied chunks of India abutting China. The people of China, abused
by the totalitarian regime, are not supporting these misdeeds of the
Chinese totalitarian government. Pakistan has, in gratitude for
China’s support to it, handed over portions of Kashmir in its illegal
occupation to China. The issues of Kashmir and Tibet have thus got
intertwined.

The vibrant Naga tribal community of Northeast India has been
struggling for its identity. Part of the territory traditionally
belonging to it is presently in India and part in Myanmar. It has been
demanding unification of the two territories as a Naga identity.

Pakistan, China, Myanmar and India should realize that nationhood
means people, not real estate. Every ethnic identity has a right to
control its local resources and decision-making. The people of Kashmir
and Tibet have been living in instability and terrorism, many of them
in refugee camps in India, for the last half a century. The tribal
Nagas are losing their identity, accelerated by the influx of refugees
from Bangladesh. A solution honorable to all needs to be evolved
urgently.

Autonomy under joint suzerainty
A legitimate resolution for these conflicts can be:

(1) Integrated Kashmir, that is the portion under India and that
illegally occupied by Pakistan and a portion given by it to China, may
be offered autonomy under the joint suzerainty of India and Pakistan,
provided the minority communities votes in its favor, and autonomous
Kashmir institutes true democracy. While exercising its veto, the
Hindu and Buddhist minority communities can demand full protection,
return of their properties and insist on true local empowerment so
that their rights are not subverted. Jammu and Ladhak can choose
through referendum to remain with India.

(2) Tibet may be offered autonomy under the joint suzerainty of China
and India, and integrated Naga territory autonomy under the joint
suzerainty of India and Myanmar provided they too agree to institute
true democracy through referendum.

(3) Operationally, joint suzerainty will imply that Kashmir, Tibet and
Nagaland cannot have their own military. The nations exercising joint
suzerainty over them shall position their military attachés in their
capitals to oversee that neither of them nor any third nation violates
their territorial integrity.

(4) In true democracy, every local entity is autonomous in local
matters while the national government provides security. The above
arrangement will be in keeping with the spirit of such true democracy.
Since Pakistan has handed over a part of Kashmir to China, the
decision for Kashmir and Tibet shall be as a package. Kashmir, Tibet
and Nagaland can then prosper as peace zones between the four nations.

Since India liberated Bangladesh from exploitation by Pakistan,
Bangladesh clearly can have no threat from India. After its formation,
Bangladesh suffered military rule for long periods. As a result of
mismanagement and abuse, over one crore Bangladeshies, both Muslim and
Hindu, have illegally migrated into India. Since India was its
liberator, Bangladesh may seek India’s suzerainty, reduce its
military, institute true democracy, and dedicate itself to national
reconstruction.

If joint suzerainty over Kashmir and Tibet is adopted, India and
Pakistan too can reduce their military, and through true local
empowerment, dedicate themselves to national reconstruction.

The global society should support the people of China and Myanmar in
their struggle for liberation from their totalitarian regimes and
instituting true democracy. Sri Lanka too should resolve its Tamil
discord by instituting true democracy in which local entities control
local resources and decision-making. This will make South Asia a
confederation of self-reliant, peace loving local governments.

These are bold suggestions born in the mind of independent thinkers
but it will not give any wisdom to the leaders in power in the three
great neighboring countries nor will satiate the struggle groups, and
both sides will be sticking to their demands and living in their world
of dreams with the resolve not to solve a problem evading a solution
after so many decades of blood bath, we can only shed tears for those
who lost their lives be it our security forces or the insurgents, DMK,
was termed as Tear Drops by Periyar E.V.Ramasamy, hence we shed tears
for Nagaland and our Dravidian nagas who had become Mongoloid due to
accidents of history.


N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai

www.dravidaperavai.org.in

Email: dravida...@gmail.com