ABSTRACT

In this chapter, written from the perspective of the Nagas, we will provide evidence that the newly independent Indian state was not exceptional, but conformed with the nation-building policy of many post-colonial states that used massive force with utter brutality to eradicate resistance.1 Initially it was Assamese expansionism that had already employed terror; this, in turn, made Nehru send the Indian army into the Naga hills which unleashed a ruthlessly brutal military campaign. The Nagas, faced with this onslaught, united to an unprecedented degree, and from then on thoroughly considered themselves as a nation. The Indian ‘Other’, the enemy, trying to define the Nagas by violence, served as the negative against which unification could be defined.2 Christianity, far from being a prime mover itself, was employed as a means for mobilisation and unification.3