The accord signed in Delhi between the major section of Naga insurgents, namely NSCN(IM), and the Government of India is not just a ceasefire agreement aimed at bringing temporary reprieve to the long-disturbed State. The accord, framework for a final settlement, marks a paradigm shift in New Delhi’s approach to disturbed areas of the country’s remote North-East. By drawing the curtains on India’s longest-running insurgency, it opens up new vistas for realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s grand “Act East” vision. Although a ceasefire has been operational in the bulk of Naga regions since 1995 (when New Delhi began active engagement with the IM leadership) the accord will bring closure to insurgency and concretise the Nagas’ integration with the rest of India.
The accord also needs to be seen in the perspective of India’s expanding equations with Myanmar and countries further East. As long as States along India’s mountainous North-Eastern border are disaffected, road, rail and regular commercial exchanges with Myanmar cannot be taken to a new level. It is to the credit of Prime Minister Modi’s remarkable vision and sense of purpose that instead of marking time through an impermanent ceasefire, New Delhi has reached out to provide permanent opportunities to the Naga people to become equal partners in India’s growing economic prosperity. It is thus to be hoped that the NSCN(IM) leadership will hereafter adhere to the Indian Constitution, abjure violence and become part of India’s vibrant democracy by taking part in the electoral process.
Although India has tried to settle insurgencies in the North-East for many years, its only major success so far was in Mizoram. Nagaland posed a far greater challenge; after all, even the British were unable to effectively govern this area, with indomitable and fiercely independent Naga tribesmen holding out against all attempts to establish New Delhi’s authority. The fact that Naga tribes are scattered over large parts of the North-East, well beyond the territorial boundary of Nagaland, and also inhabit adjoining areas of Myanmar, makes the problem hugely complicated.
It should be borne in mind that Naga insurgency has a very long history. Naga groups first raised the banner of revolt against India on August 14, 1947, a day before Indian Independence, under the leadership of AZ Phizo who eventually went into self-exile in london. Jawaharlal Nehru’s Government used extreme force to subjugate the Nagas without any success and their insurgency has continued in varying intensity till the present day. China’s steady support to the insurgents, especially in the 1960s when Mao Zedong experimented with “exporting” revolution to the neighbourhood, further compounded mutual misgivings. While the NSCN retained its doctrinaire faith in an independent Nagalim (Greater Nagaland) Beijing encouraged separatist tendencies by arguing that Nagas had more in common with the Chinese than most Indians. The fact that many Indians indeed looked upon Nagas and other people from the North-East as ethnic and cultural aliens only furthered the gulf. Previous Governments in New Delhi unfortunately believed that the best way to contain insurgency was to promote rampant corruption of the region’s polity, without addressing the core issue of alienation. That policy bred a class of corrupt and arrogant rulers who were totally cut off from their own people.
With the Naga Accord, Prime Minister Modi has signalled that the organic leadership of the Nagas, belonging to diverse tribes, must come forward to solve the community’s biggest problem, which is of isolation. Fortunately, the majority of Naga youth are educated, but in the absence of appropriate opportunities in their remote homeland got drawn to insurgency as a means of livelihood.
The Naga leaders must now tell them about the enormous scope of growth that awaits them in the rest of India. A sizeable number of young Naga men and women have already branched out to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and other metros in search of employment and this trend will consolidate in the aftermath of the accord.
With the conclusion of the land Border Agreement with Bangladesh, the prospect of opening up road and rail connectivity to the North-East through Bangladesh has brightened. This will give an enormous fillip to the economic potential of these States, including Nagaland. Meanwhile, the Central Government must focus on building infrastructure, educational and health facilities to benefit the people of Nagaland.
As a New Economic Zone is created in India’s North-East, transcending the border with Myanmar, (which will make this region accessible to the burgeoning economies of Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam), a new dawn is set to rise over Nagaland. In the coming years, the completion of the South-East Asian Highway, set to connect Singapore with Kabul will result in physical connectivity promoting greater interaction with the region. It will lead to enhanced economic growth that parallels China’s efforts to build a commercial hub centred on its Yunnan province, which borders India. This can also act as a counter to China’s policy of One Road-One Belt (OROB), whereby Beijing plans to bring all countries along the erstwhile southern Silk Route within the ambit of Beijing’s economic influence.
In one stroke, therefore, Prime Minister Modi’s Government has not only removed the cobwebs of a bitter history but also thrown open the gates that can lead to untold prosperity for India’s hitherto alienated North-East. Given the dynamism demonstrated by Modi in reaching out to the people of this region, it can be hoped that the disturbances in Manipur will also steadily decline and that the State too will join the procession of prosperity unveiled by the Naga Accord.
If a problem as complex as the Naga insurgency could be resolved through patient dialogue and sincerity of purpose, there is no doubt that the remaining trouble spots in India will soon see the benefits of peace and tranquillity. With abundant natural resources, intelligent manpower and exemplary gender equality as its distinctive features, nothing can now stop the North-East from achieving its destiny. The Naga Accord ushers a new chapter in India’s political evolution as well. It proves yet again that given a determined leadership possessed with courage of conviction and grand vision to make India a world leader, no height is too daunting to be scaled.