The unconditional release of 14 Kuki hostages by the United Naga Council (UNC) leaders yesterday is a historical blunder. The Naga people had no intention of killing these 14 Kuki hostages; rather, they represented a critical bargaining chip to compel the Manipur state government to fulfil its responsibility and bring justice to Konsakhul village, which has suffered tragedies and atrocities beyond definition.
When we listen to the justification given for the release of these hostages, it appears it was done solely because the Home Minister of India, Amit Shah, appealed through the Chief Minister of Nagaland, Neiphiu Rio, alongside appeals from state leadership, international observers, and prominent religious figures.
Why were the UNC leaders carried away so easily by a crooked appeal from Amit Shah, who is attempting to dismantle the Naga National movement by exploiting the Kuki issue? It is an open secret that the volatile situation in Manipur has been intentionally engineered by Shah and Modi to achieve their own geopolitical goals. Consequently, a rubber-stamp Manipur government has been installed under the guise of a popular government, executing an annihilation policy through the current state administration. The Government of India has undoubtedly faced tremendous international pressure to secure the release of these hostages. To salvage Modi’s carefully cultivated global image from this contradiction, Amit Shah clearly engineered this release by leveraging Neiphiu Rio and other influential Naga leaders—likely utilizing vast financial resources to achieve this objective by hook or by crook.
Why do the UNC leaders and our so-called mature, grey-haired elders fail to recognize the unreliability of the state leadership? The Manipur state Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh lied to Naga people that the investigation into the abduction of Naga citizens has been handled over to NIA. This involved the kidnapping of six individuals from Konsakhul by Leilon Vaiphei villagers under the leadership of the village headman, Lalboi Vaiphei, alongside Meira Paibi members who handed the six men over to a militant group to be executed in front of the victims’ relatives. This deception was thoroughly exposed when a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed, forcing the Additional Advocate General of the State Government to formally admit to the Manipur High Court that the case had not, in fact, been transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
How could our UNC leaders blindly accept an appeal from such leadership? Did financial inducements play a decisive role in this unconditional release? If not, no rational person could so easily overlook the numerous attacks and horrific atrocities inflicted upon Naga villages—particularly the recent onslaught faced by Konsakhul Village.
The UNC leadership should have utilized these 14 Kuki hostages as leverage to pressure the government, which has intentionally refused to do its job and lied to the entire Naga population, to fulfill the following demands:
1. Arrest Lalboi Vaiphei, Headman of Leilon Village, along with all the Meira Paibi members involved in kidnapping those six innocent people and handing them over to Kuki militants for execution.
2. Evict Leilon Village, as the lease on the land has expired, making their continued occupation an illegal encroachment subject to eviction.
3. Station neutral security personnel (strictly excluding complicit Indian security forces) in Konsakhul Village until Leilon Vaiphei village is completely vacated. This is an absolute necessity because these Kuki settlers have completely choked off the lifeline of Konsakhul village.
4. Abrogate the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement between the government and Kuki militant groups, close down the designated camps situated dangerously close to Naga villages, and mandate their relocation deep within Churachandpur District.
Yet yesterday, those 14 Kuki hostages are being released unconditionally, completely disregarding the immense suffering of the Naga people, particularly the residents of Konsakhul Village. I am not advocating for the execution of Kuki hostages in the barbaric manner practiced by Kuki militants. What I am asserting is that UNC leaders cannot betray the greater, long-term interests of the Naga people under the guise of misplaced morality. One can only conclude that they took this decision simply to impress Amit Shah, Neiphiu Rio, regional politicians like Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma, world leaders, and religious figures who appealed for the release—all at the direct expense of the victims of Konsakhul. Naga history will not forgive the UNC leadership for this treacherous act. You have victimized innocent Konsakhul villagers who have been desperately longing either for the safe return of their loved ones or for genuine justice to be served.
If those six kidnapped Konsakhul villagers had been the immediate family members of the current UNC leaders, would you still be preaching morality at the cost of your own brothers? Would you still try to impress high-ranking politicians at the expense of your immediate kin? Make no mistake: the current UNC leadership will reap what they sow. The day will come when they must account for what they have done to the Naga people and the Konsakhul villagers, when the cries of the victims finally reach our Heavenly Father. We do not know exactly what persuaded the UNC leadership to make this treacherous decision, but if it was driven by money, may that wealth prove to be the blood money of Judas Iscariot.
The only thing the Nagas have achieved through this unconditional release is the vague “goodwill” of outsiders. When your very ancestral land is being stolen from under you, what is the utility of such goodwill? The Tibetan people enjoy immense goodwill in India, yet their homeland remains occupied by the Chinese. Which scenario is preferable: to possess public goodwill while living as refugees in our own land, or to stand firm and fight for our rights? This is a crucial reminder for the UNC leadership: the entire world already knows who is instigating the conflict in Manipur. We do not need to stage theatrical stunts to win international goodwill.
Consider the bleak future now facing the Konsakhul villagers. All essential lifelines for trade, water supply, and communication are completely controlled by Kuki settlers, yet the UNC leaders were foolish enough to abandon our own brothers just to impress politicians for a potential quid pro quo. Why don’t the UNC leaders personally go and provide security to Konsakhul from this day forward, since they are securely in the good graces of the Kuki settlers? Furthermore, let these UNC leaders take over the grueling duties of the Naga Village Volunteers. It is deeply concerning how half-baked, visionless, and easily swayed by adversaries our leaders have become during such a critical juncture. The UNC leadership must remember that the very soil of the Naga homeland that feeds you, and the water gushing from ancestral lands that you drink, will one day rise up to swallow you.
There must be strict qualifications for anyone aspiring to be a Naga Civil Society Organization (CSO) leader. Those who wish to serve the Naga people must not treat these vital responsibilities merely as a fallback option because they failed to secure a government job or establish a sustainable business. Too many of our self-proclaimed social workers have grown wayward, becoming entry points for Naga disunity and engineering compromises that severely damage the core of Naga nationalism.
Today, I called upon the UNC leadership to resign en masse. They have thoroughly surrendered the moral authority required to hold office and have proven themselves completely unfit to lead the Naga people in this critical hour.
VS J
(The views and opinions in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official stance of Rural Post)
