NOVEMBER 23, 2024 — The ongoing peace negotiations between the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) (NSCN-IM) and the Government of India continue to face challenges, with the demand for a separate Naga flag and constitution emerging as a key point of contention, Hornbill TV reports.
The NSCN-IM, a separatist group primarily active in northeastern India and parts of Myanmar, seeks to establish a sovereign Naga state. Its leadership has maintained that a peace agreement without provisions for a distinct Naga flag and constitution would be unacceptable.
On November 22, observed as Naga Unification Day, Rh. Raising, a member of NSCN-IM’s collective leadership, reiterated this stance. Quoting the group’s chief negotiator Th. Muivah, Raising stated:
“Solution without Naga flag and constitution would be a repetition of the past mistakes. This battle will decide our future. We cannot afford to lose it.”
The Indian government resumed dialogue with NSCN-IM leaders in October 2024, marking the first direct engagement since November 2022 which failed to yield results due to the group’s insistence on the inclusion of a flag and constitution in any settlement, according to The Morung Express.
In Naga oral tradition, the origins of the Naga flag are attributed to divine intervention rather than human design, says The Indian Express.
According to legend, as Naga leaders battled Indian armed forces during the early years of the Naga movement, a vision of a rainbow in a vivid blue sky after a storm inspired its creation.
Naga National Council leader Zapu Phizo and his colleagues interpreted this vision as a sign from God.
The task of bringing the flag to life fell to a woman from the Rengma tribe, one of the many tribes under the Naga umbrella. She wove the flag, which was first hoisted on March 22, 1956, in Parashen, Rengma.
The flag features a blue background symbolizing the sky, with a red, yellow, and green rainbow arcing across its center. In the top-left corner lies the Star of Bethlehem, a nod to the Christian faith shared by the majority of Nagas.
Image: Public domain