In Manipur's Senapati district, one party has become the face of Naga political demands

“The only Naga demand is, let us live together as one family, in Greater Nagaland. We have a unique culture and tradition. When we mingle with Manipuris, we are sometimes disturbed.”

Soni Mathews, Senapati district president of the Naga People’s Front, was trying to explain his party’s core agenda. Only one kind of flag is seen around Senapati town in the Manipur hills, the red, white and blue of the Naga People’s Front, with its trademark rooster. Also printed on the flag are the words, “Fide Non Armis (with faith not arms)”.

The party built around Naga political aspirations lays claim to the many objectives that spurred militant groups to armed struggle. It also forms government in neighbouring Nagaland. For the Manipur elections this time, Nagaland Chief Minister Shurhozelie Liezietsu addressed rallies in Senapati while his Manipuri counterpart, Okram Ibobi Singh, stayed far away.

Senapati is a poor district. Most of its residents are cultivators, who manage to grow crops at the subsistence level. But the primary electoral issue is one of identity, not development. This is Naga territory, and the party most closely identified with Naga political demands is the Naga People’s Front.

The Naga party

It is partly, perhaps, because the party is supported by a wide spectrum of Naga groups. To begin with, it is backed by the United Naga Council, the conglomeration of Naga organisations currently leading an economic blockade on key highways. Their objective: to make the Manipur state government roll back seven newly created hill districts.

The council and the party speak the same language when it comes to the blockade: it is aimed at preserving the integrity of Naga ancestral lands; these lands have already been split up with the borders created at Independence and the states that came into being afterwards; the government at Imphal is dominated by Meiteis and immune to the problems of the hill tribes. Not surprisingly, the council has put its weight behind the Naga People’s Front, claiming ideological affinities.

Mathew defends the blockade. “Development funds for the hills are not used,” he claimed. “Our funds have been blocked by the Meiteis for decades. We block [the roads] for one or two months and they say it is unlawful.”

The party’s main election agenda, he says, will be to ensure greater powers for the hill areas council, responsible for the administration of the hill districts. The party also promises to push for decentralising the state administration, moving government offices out of Imphal and into the hills.

It has also been alleged that the party enjoys the support of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah faction), a militant group currently in talks with the Centre. The Naga People’s Front says it wants to see progress on peace talks between the rebel group and the government of India, but denies any further links. “We support the issue, the talks, not the NSCN(IM),” Mathews said.

Still, he is careful to distinguish the NSCN(IM) from other armed groups. “In Naga areas we have mainly two insurgencies – the NSCN (IM) and the NSCN (Khaplang),” he explained. “But the NSCN (IM) are not terrorists, they are only freedom fighters. They are never involved in extortion and terrorist activities. They never throw bombs in crowds.”

The others

Rivals in the Congress do not shy away from dubbing the Naga party the “political wing” of the NSCN(IM). According to Devabrata Singh, general secretary of the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee, the NSCN(IM) planned the Naga party’s advance into Manipur and weaned local Congress legislators away. “There is an undeclared ban on the Congress in Naga areas,” Singh claimed.

Whatever the truth of this statement, the Congress party office in Senapati town is little more than a rumour. There are no flags and no rallies. In the last elections, Francis Ngajokpa had won Tadubi constituency in Senapati district for the Congress. This time, he has defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party. According to local residents, however, the legislator has largely kept to Imphal.

Congress is persona non grata in Naga-dominated areas, though Singh claims that candidates in the hill districts of Ukhrul and Tamenglong are looking strong. The main fight, however, is between the Naga People’s Front and the BJP, parties that seemed to be inching towards an alliance at one point but have kept a distance for the time being. Neither, however, rules out the prospect of a post-poll alliance.

But vote gathering in Naga areas is nothing like the campaigns of the mainland. Here, the democratic process has had to adapt to the particularities of Naga society, to its strong tribal and clan loyalties, to the practice that has become belief – every village functions as a republic.

Of tribe and clan

The Naga People’s Front kicked off its campaign in Tadubi constituency with a meeting on a windy hilltop. This was in the village of Maram, which is also the name of a Naga tribe. The meeting was attended by party leaders, curious voters and representatives of the autonomous district council in the hill areas.

Most importantly, it was attended by tribal leaders. Some preside over tribal unions in the towns. Others head “circles”, an administrative division under Naga customary law where clusters of villages are grouped together. There are five main Naga tribes in Senapati district – Mao, Maram, Poumai, Zeliang and Thangkul. Support for parties is usually portioned out by tribe or clan. In Maram village, that windy day, Maram and Poumai leaders endorsed the Naga People’s Front.

But customary bodies in the villages have a say even earlier in the election process, when candidates are chosen. “We collect information from the grass root level,” explained Mathew. “We go from village to village, explaining the principles of the party. On hearing from the village that this particular person is good, we send a report to the central authority [of the party].” The person supported by the village is issued an electoral ticket.

Traditionally, having declared support for a candidate, the entire village would vote for him. Ishmael, a graphic designer who spent some years in Delhi and now lives in Senapati, says that when he was away, his family would cast his vote. That was the custom.

Where does this leave the individual voter, who makes political choices based on personal desires and ideologies, who casts her ballot for the government that is most likely ensure her a better life? Individual voting has become more common in Naga areas, according to residents of Senapati. But for the most part, the individual’s voice merges into the community’s. For most Nagas, elections are battles of collective identity before they are anything else.