Thuingaleng Muivah, 91, the general secretary of the NSCN(IM), lived most of his life between camp Hebron in Dimapur and New Delhi. He served as the organization’s senior political negotiator and the glue that held the Naga groups together at home. His advanced age forced him to leave New Delhi for camp Hebron during the post-pandemic period, where he began to spend more time in the vast areas where armed cadres live alongside the largest insurgent group’s parallel government. However, Wednesday marks his first visit home in more than 50 years as he returns to his village of Somdal in the Ukhrul district off Manipur.
The Tangkhul Naga is among his own people in his native land after spending time abroad and in various locations, supporting the Naga movement in the hopes of a political settlement that would integrate all Naga-inhabited regions for a greater Nagalim. This is an emotional moment for the last surviving founding leader of the NSCN. The various Naga organizations were aware of his wish to visit his village, but in 2010, he was prevented from doing so due to opposition from the Manipur Congress government, which was afraid of escalating tensions in the area.
Muivah has faced numerous difficulties. He has worked to find a long-term solution to the decades-long insurgency and to maintain the Naga battle for sovereignty by containing both external and internal forces to prevent factionalism. In an effort to finalize a peace agreement with the Naga people, Muivah became the principal architect of the framework agreement that was reached in 2015 between the government and the NSCN(IM). Their charter of demands and the fundamental idea of a long-lasting, inclusive, and peaceful coexistence have been on the table.
Peace has proven elusive, though, and Muivah’s problems have only gotten worse over time. In addition to the decades-long bloodshed caused by the Naga movement, security forces faced an increasingly difficult threat from the NSCN (IM) as several of its cadres relocated to the India-Myanmar border. Muivah was under pressure to control cadres in order to maintain communication with the government’s interlocutors after central agencies clamped down on the group’s extortion and smuggling operations. Given that the Naga insurgency is currently at a turning point and the government has made it clear that any resolution or peace agreement will be within the parameters of the Indian Constitution and that demands such as a separate flag and Constitution cannot be accepted, Muivah’s role is becoming more and more significant.
But there are worries that Muivah’s deteriorating health may cast doubt on the eventual peace deal because the next generation of leaders might not be strong enough to continue the peace negotiations in the same way. Additionally, the Naga National Political Groups’ demands to sign a peace agreement with the government have put more pressure on the group.
With some of its cadres sneaking into China’s Yunnan region in 2019, the NSCN(IM), struggling to keep its flock together, has been frantically trying to regain its lost strength in the former base in Myanmar. All eyes are on Muivah to put a stop to the armed conflict during his lifetime, even though the outfit’s increasing isolation within Nagaland may put pressure on it to negotiate a compromise with the government. His visit to his village is obviously more than just a sentimental occasion. The government’s message is also to provide the elderly Muivah an opportunity to teach the next generation a path to peace.
“For the indigenous tribes, the village is extremely important,” a government official stated. “Muivah’s return home might be a final effort to provide him with closure.”
After Muivah, however, it might be a difficult trip back to Hebron for the group, which is no longer dominant in these areas outside of Nagaland.
