Nagaland University (NU) in collaboration with the National Commission for Scheduled Tribe (NCST) as part of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ initiative of the Government of India organized a one-day program on ‘Contribution of Tribal Heroes in Freedom Struggle ‘ at I. Ihoshe Kinimi Hall, Nagaland University, Lumami on Tuesday with Prof. Jagadish Kumar Patnaik, Vice Chancellor, NU gracing the occasion as the chief guest, Mukesh Kumar Sharma, Advisor, NCST as the guest of honour and Kedar A Kulkarni, representing Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram as the special guest.
Prof Jagadish Kumar Patnaik praised Nagaland University for organizing such an important program, noting that such programs allow one to better understand oneself, revisit one’s history, re-assist oneself, and contribute to one’s future plans of action, allowing one’s knowledge to develop and enrich because tribal identity is never clearly identified.
Patnaik further stated that history is more than merely studying documents, files, and notices written by clerics in British Museums since Indians have opposed and confronted a rebellious mindset at every step but were suppressed. “We need to feel ourselves first not to be soaked in the past and be integrated into the mainstream so we can retain our identity and can be part of the larger framework,” he said.
He went on to say that the individual efforts of tribals to India’s freedom struggle had been overlooked for many years after independence, and that proper recognition should be accorded to them.
According to the vice chancellor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is deeply committed to holistically strengthening the Scheduled Tribes through honoring tribal heroes. He went on to explain that the rift in Indian civilization was created by past colonial masters’ writings for their own advantage. He said that Nagaland has always been a part of Indian civilization, much like other civilizations, and remarked that acknowledgment and sensitivity about the contribution to the liberation movement by unsung heroes is a source of pride and importance to us. He also urged the Department of History and Archeology to approach the Indian Council of Historical Research to obtain a project to study Naga history in a proper perspective through folklore and oral history, stating that the Government is looking into a fresh perspective in regards to the tribal heroes’ contribution to the freedom struggle.
He also contended that nationalism is a European term defined by ethnic communities, and that India’s concept of social and political engineering differs from the concept of Western political order.
“Nationalism is not a concept that is part of Indian civilization… our culture is old and unseen where we have space for every community, community and tribes,” he asserted.
NCST’s efforts to recognize tribal heroes’ contributions to the freedom struggle are an extremely commendable undertaking, he added, because there is a flaw in the historiography deliberately done by colonial historians that is incompatible with the spirit of nationalism and indigenous community identity.
Earlier, the guest of honour inaugurated a ‘poster exhibition,’ initiated by NCST while a talk on ‘contributions of the tribal heroes in Freedom Struggle’ was presented by Prof Y Ben Lotha, Dept of History and Archaeology, Nagaland University and Kedar A Kulkarni representing Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram briefed on the ‘Exhibition of tribal heroes in freedom struggle’ and Mukesh Kumar Sharma, Advisor NCST exhorted on ‘The role of NCST’.
The program was chaired by Academic Coordinator, Prof. Athungo Ovung and the welcome address was said by Prof. M.S. Rawat, Dean, School of Sciences, while the Vote of thanks was proposed by administrative co- ordinator, Peter Ki.