The United Naga Council (UNC) said on Tuesday that the Naga flag and Constitution are the "soul and spirit of Naga identity and Naga nationhood". And as such, “in the event of signing the ‘final’ agreement without the indispensable manifestation of our identity and our future (read: flag and constitution), we will be wrong to say that our situation and history have been unique”.
UNC then said that every people’s struggle for a rightful place has a history. It also said that any people’s resistance movement has its roots. UNC further said Nagas' history is no less than any other’s. It added that Naga people had made their tryst with destiny a long time ago.
“Thousands of lives have been sacrificed not without a cause. Leaders have come and leaders have gone and leaders will come and will go. And it is the resoluteness and the indomitable spirit of the leaders that have brought the movement this far, never ever putting aside the trust in God’s faithfulness and His promises and care to His people,” the UNC added.
The Naga body then said “our own identity and future, identity that comes with dignity and future that comes with security has been the guiding spirit and is the cornerstone of our movement since the very beginning”.
The council reiterated that the Naga flag and constitution are the "soul and spirit of Naga identity and Naga nationhood".
UNC then said, “Allow us to remind the Naga people at this crucial moment of this Naga political situation of a very important message of Zoramthanga, a former Mizo rebel leader and later who became the chief minister of Mizoram and once a key player in Naga peace talk. Zoramthanga had once addressed a big Naga delegation gathering in one of the sessions of the ‘Third Naga Consultative Meet’ in the presence of the two Collective Leadership- Th. Muivah and Late Isak Chishi Swu from May 6 to 10, 2002 at Hotel Alexandria in Bangkok, Thailand. Zoramthanga stated that Naga people “are fortunate to have these two great leaders still leading the movement”.
According to UNC, Zoramthanga also stated that “Nagas must learn a lesson from the mistakes of the Mizos--the Mizo people have plucked the fruit before it is ripened”. The UNC then said, “This piece of avowal coming from a rebel leader himself and who later became a Chief Minister of an Indian state, with varied experiences, was a big lesson for the Nagas to learn”.
UNC then said that Nagas have seen ups and downs in these long years of struggle. It also said there have been “turmoil and turbulence, follies and foibles, deceptions and deceits, agreements and disagreements, both within and without”.
It also said Nagas had dealings with great Indian leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jayaprakash Narayan, India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime ministers Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai, Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao, IK Gujral, Deve Gowda, Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh and now Prime Minster Narendra Modi, over Indo-Naga political issue. “And in Modi 1.0, the historic Indo-Naga Framework Agreement was signed on August 3, 2015 in New Delhi for an early logical conclusion based on the unique history and situation of the Nagas,” the UNC added.
Having said these, UNC asserted that it is the “vulnerable ‘within’ factor that would destroy us”.
It then appealed to the Naga people to do away with the conception or misconception of ‘takeable’ or ‘giveable’. It reiterated that Nagas are at a “very critical juncture, at the threshold of entering a new era passing by our chequered history”.
The UNC then said that in the event of signing the ‘final’ agreement without the “indispensable manifestation of our identity and our future (read: flag and constitution), we will be wrong to say that our situation and history have been unique”. It added, “Future generations would wish this should have never been done. It is not about arrogance. It is about resilience”.
