In a poignant and historic homecoming, Thuingaleng Muivah — the 91-year-old chairman of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah), or NSCN(IM) — made a first visit in half a century to his native Somdal village in the Ukhrul district of Manipur on Wednesday.
The return of the veteran rebel leader, who has been at the center of the four-decade Naga political movement, attracted huge crowds and revived memories of a revolutionary yet defining phase in the history of Northeast India. Scores of residents gathered along the roads of Ukhrul to greet their “Ato Kilonser” (Prime Minister in the NSCN rank). Boys in red sweaters waved the Naga flag, and men and women in Tangkhul traditional wear conducted cultural songs and dances to celebrate the arrival of their leader.
Raised in Somdal village in a Tangkhul Naga family, Muivah has spent much of his adult life at the helm of one of the Northeast’s most powerful insurgent outfits. The NSCN(IM), co-founded by him with Isak Chishi Swu and S.S. Khaplang in 1980, following a split from the Naga National Council (NNC), has been in peace talks with the Government of India since 1997 — the region’s longest-running such dialogue.The visit is particularly significant, not just due to Muivah’s age factor but also because it occurs at a turning point in the Naga peace process, now at an advanced stage with the signing of the Framework Agreement between the Centre and the NSCN(IM) in 2015.
The agreement, signed in the presence of then Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was viewed as a breakthrough towards an everlasting and peaceful solution for the longstanding Naga issue. However, despite the ongoing peace talks, Muivah had been unable to return to his native village for half a century.
The last time he attempted to visit Somdal in 2010, the then Congress-led government in Manipur denied him entry, triggering violent clashes at the Manipur-Nagaland border. Six people were killed in the ensuing police firing at Mao Gate, marking one of the bloodiest flashpoints in recent Naga-Manipur relations.Before that, in 2001, the move to extend the NSCN(IM)-Centre ceasefire to the entire Naga-dominated part of Manipur had precipitated widespread protests by Meiteis highlighting the strong ethnic and political sensitivities of the Naga issue.
For much of the last half-century, Muivah has lived in Dimapur, Nagaland — some 160 km from Somdal — where the headquarters of the NSCN(IM) are based. His return to Manipur was facilitated after the Centre is believed to have issued a go-ahead, marking relaxation of restrictions and possibly a renewed effort towards clinching the peace accord.As Muivah reached Ukhrul, the residents there burst into joy.
“We are thrilled to see our Ato Kilonser return home at last,” remarked an elderly villager, with tears in her eyes.
Another youth resident chipped in, “It is history for us. He has been fighting all his life for our people, and today we take him in as one symbol of our identity and strength.”
Political analysts view Muivah’s visit as a possible move to enhance confidence in the peace process, particularly when the negotiations between the NSCN(IM) and the Centre have reached a delicate stage. The group has insisted on the merger of all areas settled by Nagas into a single administrative unit — an insistence that remains controversial with neighbouring states, especially Manipur.
Thuingaleng Muivah’s path from the young revolutionary of the 1960s to one of India’s Northeast’s most influential insurgent commanders is a tale of ideology, adversity, and endurance. A once-general secretary of the Naga National Council (NNC), he was a wanted individual in the 1970s, with the government placing a price on his head. His eventual falling-out with S.S. Khaplang in the late 1980s gave rise to two dominant factions — NSCN(IM) and NSCN(K) — which went on to dictate the destiny of Naga insurgency for decades. Although Isak Chishi Swu died in 2016 and Khaplang in 2017, Muivah remains at the helm of the NSCN(IM), now primarily preoccupied with realizing a negotiated political settlement.
While Ukhrul’s much-awaited homecoming was celebrated across the town, many have hailed it as a “homecoming of history” — one that heralds not just the strength of the Naga people but also the hope that peace, after a span of decades of strife, is finally within sight.
