ENPO responds to govt on tribe recognition; reaffirms stand

Close on the heels of the state government’s clarification over the issue of recognition of Rongmei tribe in response to the stand of the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) and also the Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC), ENPO vice president Yonglong Konyak and joint secretary Manlang Phom expressed support to all Naga communities/brethren in terms of needs or difficulties regardless of where they are from or where they are domiciled.
Putting the record straight, ENPO said it stood absolutely for all possible moral and practical support to Rongmei Naga brethren in difficulties and was willing to go to any extend to defend and uphold their rights for social, political and economic rights.
In this regard, the signatories said the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of ENPO had on May 4 2013, resolved to facilitate the difficulties and aspirations of fellow Rongmei Nagas in fully supporting them to avail the ‘Indigenous Certificate’ of Nagaland for all practical purposes.
However, ENPO said the CEC “equally resolved to oppose and object the recognition of the Rongmei as a tribal status of Nagaland for all practical hurdles and difficulties”. ENPO also made it clear to Rongmei brethren that the eastern Nagas of Nagaland should “not be misunderstood or misconceived” in any manner.
ENPO made the stand of the six tribes clear to the government of Nagaland and the department and to put on record, that while it supported the status of fellow Rongmeis in Nagaland whose ancestors were listed in the 1963 E-Roll for status as indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland to avail ‘indigenous certificates’ for practical purposes and privileges, it opposed any proposition to accord recognition of Rongmei Nagas as Scheduled Tribe in Nagaland, as per the May 4 resolution.
ENPO said the resolution was adopted under the aegis of CEC and attended by officials of ENPO, members of CEC, federating tribal students, colleagues, president and colleagues of all frontal organisations such as ENSF, ENWO,steering committee members, advisors, prominent leaders and senior members.
A non-aboriginal tribe cannot be made an aboriginal tribe, says ZPO
DIMAPUR, JAN 31 (NPN): Zeliang People Organisation (ZPO), Nagaland Friday said “a non aboriginal tribe cannot be made an aboriginal tribe” in the state of Nagaland and contended that Rongmei tribe was “traditionally and customarily” not a Naga tribe of Nagaland but kith and kin of Naga tribes in Manipur.
In a statement, ZPO (N) media cell said the organization did not “validate” any organization in Peren district which was ambiguously floated and claimed as subordinate to ‘Baudi’ of  a non-recognized tribe.
ZPO (N) claimed that the one-time general secretary of the ‘Baudi’ in an article published on a local daily on July 27, 2013 “apparently and still so preposterously unaware that Zeliang is a recognized tribe” in Nagaland had stated that “there was never a history of Zeme and Liangmai as one Zeliang or for that matter Rongmei together as Zeliangrong tribe in the history of the people” and reminded that there was no community recognized as Zeliangrong tribe neither in Assam or Manipur.
ZPO (N) also said that the no Zeliangrong Baudi or its subordinate organization headed by people like “Kiezin and Kerang Dumtta” claim to speak the voice of the people of Peren district.  The organization claimed that the use of the term Zeliangrong was a facade of the ‘Baudi’ and it was “swallowing up the entire interest of the native Zeliang people of Nagaland” in order to achieve “a personal ambition and political aggrandizement”.
ZPO (N) said a good number of the common people of Peren district and more so, the native Zeliang instead of realizing the facts were still trapped in the “unsalvageable snare” of a corrupted politician either due to their “sheer ravenousness or misfortune.” The organization claimed that neither the unregistered ZPO nor the Zeliangrong Baudi or the even the Naga Hoho for that matter had the authority to create a work of fiction on the Naga customary practices in Nagaland.