The Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN) and Naga People’s Rights

The RIIN is a regulation introduced by the Government of Nagaland purportedly to protect the land and employment rights of indigenous inhabitants from illegal immigration and unregulated influx of non-Nagas into the state. While the Global Naga Forum does not question the RIIN’s apparent well-meaning intent, we are convinced that implementing it will have serious unintended consequences. It will cause irreparable divisions among the Nagas as a whole and create a situation where Nagas will be taking one-small-step-forward and sliding several-steps-backward. We explain what we mean, below.

In the first place, the RIIN may serve the interest of a few Nagas and other indigenous residents seeking government employment. GNF is not belittling this potential benefit to some, but the RIIN will not protect the rights of indigenous people because it leaves the problem of illegal immigration and uncontrolled influx intact. What this means is that, in the long run, the RIIN will create a situation where as more and more Nagas in Nagaland are issued indigenous resident cards, which entitle them to compete with one another for relatively fewer and fewer government jobs, the uncontrolled levels of illegal immigration and influx also continue to grow. In this scenario, indigenous resident cards in the hands of Nagas would be about as useful as someone brandishing a certificate of birth in a house whose ownership has changed hands and is occupied by someone else. The point to mark here is that, over time, the RIIN will end up favoring the limited interests of some individuals while failing to safeguard the indigenous rights of the Naga people in their own homeland.

The second – deeper divisions among the Nagas – is an even more immediate issue that has the potential for becoming irreconcilable differences. This is because whether or not its advocates realize, the RIIN raises the spectre of the Nagaland state government doing the unconscionable work of pioneering an administrative mechanism through which Nagas exclude Nagas from one another’s lands and regions.

It is certain to drive a wedge between Nagas of Nagaland and Nagas from other states and regions. With a mechanism like that in hand, the Nagaland government would in effect be acting most irresponsibly. It will be giving its official approval to the politically-motivated divisions of the Nagas on the basis of states and regions of residence, and will make permanent the physical breakup of the Naga ancestral homeland into parts of competing Indian states. Not only that, the RIIN will widen the distinctions among Nagas even further by helping foment more ideological antagonisms and psychological distance. As a Naga elder from Nagaland put it, in a meaningful jest, the RIIN will have the ludicrous effect of making the Nagas of Nagaland feel like indigenous Naga Brahmins among their own people.

It is easy to see how well these unintended consequences of the RIIN would align with the long-running Indian strategy of fragmenting Naga solidarity. And that, too, at a time when the Nagaland government — the leading political entity of the dominant region in the Naga homeland — ought to be bringing the Nagas together from every state and region for an inclusive and lasting political settlement with the Government of India. It would be relevant to recall here that past sessions of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly have passed six resolutions in favor of Naga integration, presumably following Point 13, the provision for “Consolidation of Contiguous Naga Area,” of the 16-Point Agreement, to which the Nagaland state owes its existence. Point 13 states: “The other Naga Tribes inhabiting the areas contiguous to the present Nagaland be allowed to join the Nagaland if they so desire.”

The Naga public are left to wonder, then, if the current opposition-less Nagaland Legislative Assembly and Government are in conflict with their preceding counterparts or with Point 13, or are morally self- conflicted. The latest Naga Consultative Meeting on the Indo-Naga political issue which was called by the PAC under the current Nagaland Assembly and Government on 12 September 2024 was not an inclusive consultation; it left out some of the key stakeholders. And now with the RIIN in tow, which risks undermining the very fabric of Naga peoplehood, the current NLA and Government have serious soul-searching to do. Because, after all, it is not like the Naga struggle for freedom was or is anti-India or Myanmar or neighbors. It was a struggle — yet to be fulfilled — for the legitimate human right of the Nagas to determine for themselves how to live together and grow as a people in their ancestral homeland, to act responsibly and collaborate in running social and public governance systems amongst themselves, without undue outside interference, much less domination by neighbors through military invasion, followed by an unending colonial-era military law called Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

One of the truths of public history is that while governments and parties come and go, the rights and aspirations of a people endure — especially those that have lasted for as long as the Naga cause has. It is therefore crucial for this generation of Naga leaders, starting with the Nagaland government, to reflect on the legacy they are leaving behind. Naga history will inevitably record if the current government and legislators are prioritizing their short-term personal and political gains over the broader Naga people’s cause. The same call to responsible leadership applies equally to the NPGs and CSOs.

All of the above boils down to one fervent appeal: That the current Naga leadership across the political, regional, and tribal divides set aside policies, projects, and stratagems that exclude and divide Nagas, and, instead, give a concerted final push to once and for all settle the nearly 80-year old Indo-Naga political issue in a way that promotes two goals at the same time: serves the common good of the Naga people, who have suffered more than enough and endured for too long; and brings peace and mutual benefits to India and the Nagas.

KUKNALIM!

Media Cell
Global Naga Forum