Nagas hoist NAGA NATIONAL FLAG across Northeast India to mark NAGA I-Day

Newsroom, Aug 15: On the eve of India’s 73rd Independence Day, the Nagas across in Naga-inhabited areas across Northeast India including Nagaland on Wednesday hoisted their own Naga national flag instead of Indian national flag to mark ‘Naga Independence Day’.

The ‘Naga Independence Day’ has been an annual event, but the celebration this year attained significance in the wake of the withdrawal of special status to Jammu and Kashmir making the former State’s red flag with three vertical stripes and a plough redundant.

On August 14, 1947, leaders belonging to various Naga tribes came together to unfurl their ‘national flag’ in Kohima, now the capital of Nagaland which attained statehood in December 1963. This was to ‘assert their right to independence’ after the transfer of power from the British to ‘Indians’.

Apart from Nagaland, this time large scale celebrations were held in Manipur, Assam too. In Manipur the biggest celebration was held in Senapati district under the aegis of United Naga Council (UNC), the apex body of the Nagas.

The celebration started with hosting of the ‘Naga National Flag’ by the special guest of the event, Neingulo Krome, secretary-general Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR), followed by speeches from the leaders of Naga civil bodies, and singing of ‘Naga National Anthem’.

Neingulo Krome has attributed the large public participation due to the prevailing situation in Kashmir, which according to him has triggered a sense of wariness of the government’s policy.

“The celebration this time is historic. There has never been a public event of such a large scale in the past except in small pockets. People coming out in large numbers in support of the Naga movement and to celebrate the historic day is a clear message that people are fed up of the unpredictable policies of the government”, said the NPMHR general secretary.

Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) also led the Naga Independence Day celebration across Northeast India and Myanmar. NSF president Ninoto Awomi, said that they have been observing the day to celebrate their identity, culture, history, and rights.

Mr. Awomi said the flag unfurled on Wednesday was the “common Naga flag’. The flag – blue with a whitish star and a rainbow running almost diagonally – is similar to that used by the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, which has been seeking a separate flag as part of the peace deal.

However, Naga National Council (NNC), the first extremist group of the Naga Hills, said the original ‘Naga national flag’ should ideally be hoisted to mark the show of rebellion in 1947. There is clarity on the colour and design of the flag unfurled that year.

The first Naga flag is considered to be the one that the NNC, formed by the legendary Angami Zapu Phizo in 1946, hoisted on March 22, 1956.