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THE RADICAL HUMANIST CONTENTS : Page No. Swami Agnivesh, the Crusader is No More 1 Vol. 84 Number 7, October 2020 Cover Page Tributes to Sh. Kiran Nanavati, Sh. B.D. Sharma 2 Monthly journal of the Indian Renaissance Institute Devoted to the development of the Renaissance Articles and Features: Movement and to the promotion of human Why the Indo-Naga Peace Process Is Dead 4 rights, scientific temper, rational thinking and Nandita Haksar a humanist view of life. Has BJP bungled in Kashmir? 10 Founder Editor: Amulya Ganguli M.N. Roy Delhi Riots Witness Who Named Police Says 12 Cops Now Targeting Her Son Advisor: Dr. Narisetti Innaiah Betwa Sharma Editor: ‘Delhi police arresting Muslims on fabricated 15 Mahi Pal Singh charges’ Prasanna D Zore Editorial Board: Ramesh Awasthi, N.D. Pancholi, Press Release: Is this an investigation into a 17 Dipavali Sen, Sangeeta Mall “conspiracy” or is the investigation itself a conspiracy? Printer and Publisher: Satish Chandra Varma NAPM condemns the arrest of former JNU 20 student and youth activist Send articles and reports to: Dr. Umar Khalid Mahi Pal Singh at E-20/162-163, Nine Former Police Officers Call Delhi Riots 22 Sector 3, Rohini, Delhi- 110085. Investigation ‘Flawed’ (M) 9312206414, 8178491055 The Wire Staff Landline Ph:- 011-41828291 Indira Gandhi’s Emergency Was Open and 24 or E-mail them to: Face-to-Face; Dictatorship Today Wears a Mask [email protected] or Devanoora Mahadeva [email protected] In my own voice: Azaadi 26 Please send Subscription/Donation Sagari Chhabra Cheques in favour of Social Reforms – a Reality Check 28 Vinod Jain The Radical Humanist to: Satish Chandra Varma, Treasurer IRI, The Insecurity Syndrome 29 A-1/103, Satyam Apartments, Vasundhra P.A.S. Prasad Enclave, Delhi- 110096. (M) 9811587576. Email ID: [email protected] Subhas Chandra Bose — A flawed hero 32 Uday Balakrishnan Please Note: Authors will bear sole MENSTRUAL HYGIENE MANAGEMENT: 35 accountability for corroborating the facts that they The need of the hour give in their write-ups. Neither the IRI/the Nabarun C. Ganguli Publisher, nor the Editor of this journal will be responsible for testing the validity and authenticity Memorandum to The President of India on 38 of statements & information cited by the authors. behalf of PUCL, Delhi; Janhastakshep and Also, sometimes some articles published in this Citizens For Democracy journal may carry opinions not similar to the Radical Humanist philosophy; but they would be How the dead weight of Leninism is crushing 41 entertained here if the need is felt to debate and Communist Parties discuss them. Bhaskar Sur October 2020 THE RADICAL HUMANIST 3 Articles and Features : Why the Indo-Naga Peace Process Is Dead The political parties, including those supported by the Naga nationalists have only worked for their narrow political interests and have not put forward any vision for the Naga people. There is a bankruptcy of both political imagination and ethics in their dealings with the people. Nandita Haksar The failure of the Indo-Naga peace process China (Tibet), Burma, East Pakistan, and is very much like the story Gabriel Garcia Bhutan, with only a 22 km wide chicken-neck Marquez tells in his book Chronicle of a Death corridor of Siliguri linking it with mainland India, Foretold. fitted well into the scheme of the colonial rulers In the novel, the setting is a small village in to turn the region into their ‘Crown Colony’ Colombia; here the setting is in a corner of India. under the ‘Coupland Plan’. Like in the Death Foretold, everyone knows The leaders of the Naga national movement, that the murder is going to be committed; including Z A Phizo rejected this proposal in the everyone has played a role in the crime. There hope of negotiating with the Indians after they is no one who is not complicit. got their independence. However, the geo-political significance of the POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE Naga homelands has ensured the continued CONFLICT international interest in the Naga movement for The Naga national movement was born at sovereignty. And, China has continued to play a the height of the Cold War and the fear of the significant political role in sustaining the West and the Indian Government was that it movement. could become a Communist stronghold. China It is not in the interest of any of these hoped to keep the Nagas within its sphere of countries that the Indo-Naga conflict is influence. resolved. Pakistan, China, the USA and Britain all played a role to keep alive the idea that the North THE INDO-NAGA RELATIONS East region was not a part of India. There was It is important to remember that there has even a plan to make it a kind of Hongkong. been a section of Naga nationalists who have David R. Syiemlieh in his book, On the Edge always thought it wiser to negotiate with the of Empire: Four British Plans for North East Indians. These Naga nationalists also wanted India, 1941–1947, has documented how the all the Naga-inhabited areas under one idea of keeping the North East region excluded administration within India, even if the unification was part of a secret British plan during the closing with the Naga-inhabited areas in Myanmar was years of their rule, discussed at the highest levels not immediately possible. of the colonial administration for setting up a These Naga nationalist leaders include T Crown Colony comprising the hill areas of North Sakherie, an Angami, and Runsung Suisa, a East India and the tribal areas of Burma. Tangkhul, both members of Phizo’s Naga The strategic and geographical location of National Council. Suisa stood for elections on the North East, boxed in by four countries viz., Congress ticket and won from the Outer 4 THE RADICAL HUMANIST October 2020 Manipur constituency in the 1957 general this, it meant there would not be talk of having elections. It was Suisa who had suggested that an arrangement within the Constitution of India. the Nagas become a part of the Indian Union 2. The talks would be held at the highest much on the same terms as the Princely States level, in other words, the negotiators would be had acceded, by which he meant the Nagas a person directly responsible to the Indian Prime have autonomy on all matters except defence, Minister and on the Naga side, Th Muivah holds foreign affairs and communication. the position of Prime Minister in the Naga The Indian leadership failed to take the underground government. Nagas seriously, dismissing them as primitive 3. The talks would be outside India. tribals and in response to their demands, the 4. There would be an elaborate mechanism Indians sent in their security forces. And thus, for maintaining a ceasefire; and with some began a history of brutal suppression of Naga conditions the Naga Army were allowed to people and their growing alienation from the carry their arms and have their camps, which Indian state. were to be designated. This meant that the Naga Army officers FRAMEWORK FOR THE PEACE were allowed to carry their arms as long as they PROCESS were not seen; but they could have their arms However, the geo-political significance of the within the Designated Camps. Naga homelands compelled the Indians to A senior former Indian Army officer was negotiate with the Naga insurgents. usually in charge of the ceasefire monitoring Three people can be credited for bringing along with senior officers of the Naga Army. the Indian Government and the Nagas to the Throughout the peace talks, the Nagas ran negotiating table. It was Deepak Dewan, the their parallel government and the Naga Army editor of a Delhi-based weekly called North continued to train new recruits. East Sun, who wanted an exclusive interview However, one can see this framework is with Th Muivah, underground at that time. And unique and seemed to offer a level playing field he finally managed to get the interview with the for negotiations. help of Grinder Muivah, Th Muivah’s brother’s son. The interview was published and then MANIPUR FACTOR Dewan took Grinder to Rajesh Pilot and the The first obstacle to the peace process was wheels of the peace process were set in motion. the demand of the NSCN that the ceasefire In July 1995, P V Narasimha Rao, the then should not be confined to the state of Nagaland Indian Prime Minister, met the two National since the organisation had operations all over Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) leaders, the North East. They wanted the ceasefire to Isak Chishi Swu and Th Muivah in Paris. be without territorial limits. Successive prime ministers, too, personally met The Manipur Government objected because the Naga leaders. they said this demand was an indirect way of And finally in 1997, the NSCN leaders and claiming that the hill areas of Manipur were a the Government of India resolved to sit across part of the Naga homelands. and discuss the possibility of peace. The Indian From the point of view of the Meiteis, the Parliament was informed and the process began. erstwhile Princely state of Manipur had always The peace process was based on three basic included the hill areas. There were many conditions: traditions which linked the Hills with the Valley 1. The peace talks will be unconditional. By from ancient times. October 2020 THE RADICAL HUMANIST 5 The Nagas of Manipur have, from the time not attend the first session of the Committee. of Indian Independence, asked for a separation On August 13, 1947, he chaired a meeting of from the Valley of Manipur which is dominated hill leaders, at which the assembled demanded by the Vaishnavite Hindus and some Meitei that the hill peoples should have the right to Muslims; whereas the tribal people of the Hills secede from Manipur after a five-year period.

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