One of the major ethnic conflicts that the Indian State has had to face has been the five decade long India-Naga conflict. The Government of India inherited British India that made the Nagas a part of India. The Nagas, an ethnic minority on the Indo-Myanmar border, have resisted Indian rule since India's independence in 1947. Although this thesis focuses on the many factors which are involved in the genesis of the Naga ethnic consciousness, it argues that the role of the educated Naga elite under the charismatic leadership of A.Z. Phizo has been fundamental to the development of Naga consciousness. The educated elites achieve it by manipulating the indigenous Naga social and political structure, i.e. the village chiefs and elders. However, it was the 'Superior' or the 'Castist' attitud...[ Read more ]

One of the major ethnic conflicts that the Indian State has had to face has been the five decade long India-Naga conflict. The Government of India inherited British India that made the Nagas a part of India. The Nagas, an ethnic minority on the Indo-Myanmar border, have resisted Indian rule since India's independence in 1947. Although this thesis focuses on the many factors which are involved in the genesis of the Naga ethnic consciousness, it argues that the role of the educated Naga elite under the charismatic leadership of A.Z. Phizo has been fundamental to the development of Naga consciousness. The educated elites achieve it by manipulating the indigenous Naga social and political structure, i.e. the village chiefs and elders. However, it was the 'Superior' or the 'Castist' attitude of the Government of India after India's Independence in the late 1940s and 1950s which led to the India-Naga ethnic conflict.

The second part of the thesis argues that differences among the Nagas themselves were used by the Government of India to 'Divide and Rule.' This policy of the Government of India led to the signing of two accords by a section of the Naga elite which led to further divisions within the community, and thus resulted in large scale violence in the late 1980s and 1990s. The two parallel governments in Nagaland, Naga Overground leaders (the leaders in the State Government) and the Underground Naga leaders (the Naga Nationalist leaders) were unable to provide stable administration for the Nagas. The prevailing situation gave rise to the Naga NGOs in the mid-1990s whose primary objectives were to unite the Naga factions and to negotiate a political settlement with the Government of India.