The vandalism of an important heritage building that once housed the historic Naga Club has drawn condemnation from all quarters in Nagaland, with at least three people arrested in connection to the incident.
In the wee hours of Saturday — the building, located in the heart of Nagaland’s capital Kohima — was vandalised by “unknown miscreants”.
Following Saturday’s vandalism incident, the NSF filed an FIR, with Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, along with several tribal civil society organisations, condemning the incident.
Founded in 1918, the Naga Club is an important institution linked to the Naga self-determination movement but had later become defunct. Since the early 1980s, the building has housed the office of the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF), after the state’s apex Naga students’ body had requested to become the Naga Club’s tenants.
In 2017, the Naga Club was revived by some members, who said they were descendants of the founders of the original institution. Since its revival, there has been a rift with the NSF over the occupation of the building.
Following Saturday’s vandalism incident, the NSF filed an FIR, with Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, along with several tribal civil society organisations, condemning the incident.
A case was registered at North police station, Kohima and the government also constituted a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by the additional superintendent of police to investigate the matter. “The building has been partly demolished, while part of it still stands… We are still investigating the matter,” said a senior police official.
Keeping the heat up, the NSF Monday staged a peaceful sit-in-protest in Kohima demanding the “immediate arrest of the culprits” involved in the demolition.
On Sunday, the office bearers of the reconstituted Naga Club claimed responsibility for the demolition, alleging that a civil issue had been given a “criminal cloak”, and that the NSF was defaulting on the rent and had been given prior eviction notices.
Meanwhile, the president of the Naga Club, Kuolachalie Seyie, filed for anticipatory bail and petitioned the Kohima bench of the Gauhati High Court to quash the NSF’s FIR.
The court has directed Seyie to appear before the investigating officer within the next three days.
The Naga Club is arguably the first pan-Naga organisation, and was formed with the stated objective to “unite all Nagas”. In 1929, the members submitted a memorandum to the Simon Commission, possibly one of the first-recorded articulations of the Naga self-determination demand.