Interview with Nehru
Press communiques
NNC resolve to boycott Indian Independence day
Khonoma group declare Naga Independence
15 August 1947, Indian Independence day at Mokokchung
At last there is news of Delhi. Nchemo, the chairman of the Lhota bench and one of the delegates has returned from Kohima and this morning he has told us what happened.
When the Nagas reached Delhi, Mayang (Mayangnokcha) at once approached Tarlok Singh, Nehru’s private secretary and asked for an appointment. Tarlok Singh said that Nehru was too busy and passed them on to Ramadhyani, the Secretary of the Constituent Assembly’s subcommittee. Mayang thought, ‘We have already seen more than enough of him’, but in order not to seem impolite he took the delegation to Ramadhyani and discussed the new demands.
As Mayang expected nothing was gained. Ramadhyani told them that the new clause 9 was unacceptable and that all the hill districts must be treated alike. Mayang replied that the Nagas would never agree to such suggestions and came away.
The next day they again tried to meet Nehru and were once again put off. That evening Mayang got desperate and wrote Nehru a letter saying that the Nagas had travelled eight days to meet him and that they could not return without an interview. Nehru then agreed to see them and the next day they met him at noon in his Secretariat office.
The interview seems to have opened smoothly with Mayang explaining Naga disappointment at the sub-committee’s attitude, their apparent ‘betrayal’ by the Governor and the Nagas’ passionate wish for freedom of choice at the end of ten years. Nehru it seems was patient and friendly, but pointed out that since the agreement was with the Governor any alteration would require the latter’s consent.
Unfortunately at this point, Longri intervened and said with angry sharpness ‘If the new clause is not accepted the Nagas will go their own way’. This was too much for Nehru, who banged the table and said, ‘India cannot be split into a hundred bits. If you fight, we shall resist.’ After that he said he was glad the Nagas had come to see him and the delegation left.
The next day a press communique appeared, ‘”We can give you complete autonomy but never complete independence. You can never hope to be independent. No State, big or small, in India, will be allowed to remain independent. We will use all our influence and power to suppress such tendencies,” declared Pandit Nehru, in his interview with the Naga delegation yesterday.’
From the Naga side the following statement was released, ‘The Naga National Council recently sent a full representative body to Delhi to reach a settlement regarding their future relationship with India. In interviews with some of the Government of India leaders in Delhi, they were given to understand that their demands could not be satisfied in full. Since the people they represent will accept nothing short of their full demands, the members of the various delegations have decided that the Naga National Council is henceforth free to decide the future of the Naga people in the way that suits them best.’
There was now little time to be lost and in order to return quickly the Nagas decided to go by aeroplane and fly to Calcutta. There they caught the Assam Mail and reached Kohima on 12 August.
At that stage, Nchemo said, “everything seemed to be pointing to a declaration of independence.” When however the N.N.C. met the next day, all the Mokokchung members suddenly drew back and even the Angamis were undecided. Again the two viewpoints clashed and after a fierce discussion, the N.N.C. resorted to votes.
The Kacha Nagas, Rengmas, the Southern Angamis and the Khonoma group voted for independence while all the rest maintained the Mokokchung decision.
The next day the Rengmas and Southern Angamis lost their nerve and joined the majority. The N.N.C. then resolved to boycott Indian Independence Day and to demand once more the new clause 9.
When Nchemo left Kohima on the 15th morning, the Khonoma group had already declared Naga independence. (It may be mentioned that Mildred Archer wrote what Aliba Imti, the Secretary, told her: ‘the Angami split is more serious than was thought. The Khonoma group have denounced the NNC and formed a separate independence party. A delegation has gone to Delhi and he hears that they have met Gandhi and Jinnah. Their action is a challenge to the N.N.C.) Nchemo himself is in favour of close cooperation with Assam and the Lhotas generally seem determined to accept an Assam Raj if given adequate safeguards.
After our talk with Nchemo we were discussing how Mokokchung must have celebrated August 15th, when a bag arrived bringing letters and papers. It seems that the Assam Government’s orders for hoisting the new flag only arrived in Mokokchung on the 14th and no new flags came with them.
The Naga head-clerk who remains in charge when Bill is out, could therefore take no action so the flag staff remained empty and aloof. The order to close the office, however, was faithfully observed, the clerks did nothing and the youth of Mokokchung enjoyed a football match, sports and tea-party. Just as the sports and the party were ending, a telegram arrived from the N.N.C. prohibiting the observances. But by then the tea had been drunk and all the sweets were gone. The only other incident concerned the post-office. Unlike the Naga Government servants, the Assamese sub-postmaster had procured a flag for himself and early in the morning he hoisted it on a pole. This seems to have excited some Naga school boys who according to the postmaster began to ‘behave unmannerly’. The next morning the flag was found lying on the ground torn and damaged.
Excerpts from ‘Journey to Nagaland’, by Mildred Archer. An account of six months spent in the Naga Hills in 1947
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