ACTUACIONES EJECUTADAS POR LA COMUNIDAD DE MADRID 216030 CONSEJERÍA DE EDUCACIÓN

India’s independence initially did not have any negative effect on Christian mission in Nagaland. Even in 1947 the American Baptist mission was bolstering its field for the long haul by appointing new resident missionaries for the formerly neglected mission centres at Wokha and Aizuto.157 _{The new environment also brought good fortune for Catholic} mission as it facilitated the establishment of Catholic mission in a formerly exclusive Baptist territory. Thus, during the first few years of India’s independence, it looked like Christian mission would continue unhindered. The violent turn of the Indo-Naga political crisis however changed the scene. The first to suffer were the American Baptist missionaries who were suspected of instigating the nationalist movement at the behest of

157 _{‘Report of J.E. Tanquist,’ ABMC (December 10-14, 1947), 30; ‘Report of B.I. Anderson,’ ABMC}

the United States military.158 _{In a failed attempt to refute this accusation, the American} Baptist missionaries even made an appeal to the Naga nationalists to ‘move slowly and within the framework of the new government.’159 _{But it only provoked accusation from} the latter for ‘interference’.160 _{The missionaries saw the Indian Prime Minister Nehru’s} visit to Kohima in 1953 as an opportunity to explain their ‘neutral attitude’ to the Indian government.161 _{But they were denied from meeting the Prime Minister. Nevertheless, they} were given the permission to attend the ‘mass meeting at which he was to speak.’162 _The meeting, however, turned ugly with the walk-out by the Naga people. In the subsequent speech, Nehru made it clear that the days were numbered for the foreign missionaries. Nehru’s speech, as published in the National Herald (31 March 1953), clearly indicated his suspicion of the role of foreign hands in the Naga nationalist movement: ‘The outsiders who are misleading the Naga people against the best interests of the country may face serious consequences if they continue to indulge in their activities. We shall have to put an end to it.’163 _{Anderson, who was present in the meeting, later wrote:}

In his speech, he made no secret of his suspicions and declared the incident to be irrefutable evidence of the sinister influence of foreigners, whose presence in the Naga Hills would in a short time be terminated. Since we were the only foreigners there we knew what to expect in the future.164

In the military action that followed, the missionaries were questioned, their houses searched and they were summoned to the court to be interrogated regarding their relations with the nationalists.165 _{Anderson wrote:}

A police patrol searched our home for material evidence of political activity, they searched for any writings that would be related to the memorandum the Naga National Council had presented, they carried away the records of the Mission to be examined by an expert from Shillong …

158 _{Anderson, ‘Mission to the Nagas,’ 93-94.} 159 _{Anderson, ‘Mission to the Nagas,’ 86.} 160 _{Anderson, ‘Mission to the Nagas,’ 93.} 161 _{Anderson, ‘Mission to the Nagas,’ 94.} 162 _{Anderson, ‘Mission to the Nagas,’ 94.}

163 _{National Herald, 31 March 1953 in Sharma and Sharma (eds), Documents on North-East India: Vol. 9}

Nagaland, 146.

164 _{Anderson, ‘Mission to the Nagas,’ 94-95.} 165 _{Anderson, ‘Mission to the Nagas,’ 94-95.}

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My summons to the court did not end for ten months until a lawyer was engaged to handle the case and secure my freedom from what had been virtually house arrest.166

Eventually in 1954 all missionaries were ordered to leave the Naga Hills. Consequently, all the American Baptist missionaries left the Naga Hills, the last being RF DeLano (1950- 1955), who left the Naga Hills on 8 February 1955.167 _{Later non-American (Catholic)} missionaries were also to follow suit as the GoI tightened its security in the region. This, according to Downs, was because the GoI was fearful that ‘the presence of foreigners in such disturbed areas could be used by the rebels to internationalize their cause.’168 _The last Catholic foreign missionary, Marocchino, left the region in October 1963. Thus the suspicion instigated by the political situation turned the GoI against the missionary presence in the region. Even as late as 1969, it has been reported in the Indian media that the ‘money’ for the Naga nationalists comes ‘from foreign missionaries’,169 _{though the}

missionaries were long gone by then.

The missionary withdrawal turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Naga churches as it hastened indigenization of leadership. Among the Baptists, though the American Baptist missionaries were ostensibly committed to propagating native ‘self- governing’ churches,170 the missionaries tarried from devolving full responsibility of the churches to the native leaders and continued to control the mission and ecclesiastical affairs. John Stuart in his British Missionaries and the End of Empire wrote of similar practice by British missionaries in Africa whereby in spite of their commitment to establish ‘self-governing churches’, until the late 1950s, the ‘control of ecclesiastical affairs remained … largely in European missionary hands.’171 _{The tendency was to think} that the road to self-government would be long and gradual, and that the natives were still

166 _{Anderson, ‘Mission to the Nagas,’ 95.} 167 _{Anderson, ‘Mission to the Nagas,’ 96.} 168 _{Downs, History of Christianity in India, 118.}

169 _{‘In no mood to compromise’ Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 4, No. 42 (18 October 1969), 1660.} 170 _{‘Editorial’ BMM, Vol. LXXVIII, No. 3 (March 1898), 84.}

171 _{John Stuart, British Missionaries and the End of Empire, East, Central and Southern Africa, 1939-1964}

unprepared for leadership. The changing context of decolonization however made the immediate devolution of responsibility to the native leadership inevitable. John CB Webster in his discussion on ‘Christianity in North-west India Since [India’s] Independence’ pointed out how a combination of factors pertinent to decolonization – ‘government’s new visa policy, the growing number of Indian Christians qualified for positions of leadership, and the mounting costs of missionary support the sending church had to bear’ – moved the foreign missionaries ‘first out of the church work and then out of institutions.’172 _{In the case of the Naga churches, the political crisis however played the} pivotal role of triggering the devolution of missionary control of the churches to native leadership. With the missionary withdrawal, native leaders like Kijungluba, Rikum Ao and Longri Ao among the Ao Naga, Kelhousekho, M Savino and Kenneth Kerhou among the Angami Naga, Ahamo and Nzanbemo among the Kyong Naga and Shihoto, Puntha and Zazhekhu among the Sumi Naga, took over the leadership of the Naga Baptist churches.

Unlike the Baptist mission, in 1963, the Catholic mission was only a little over a decade old. Thus, they had not enjoyed the luxury of decades of effort to develop native leadership. The Catholic missionaries had recognised the need to develop native leadership very early on. The sending of some Kyong Naga boys and girls for education to Dibrugarh in 1954, noted Syiemlieh, was with the hope that ‘they would become leaders in their villages.’173 _{But 1963 came too early to have any ordained native priests,}

which according to Chacko Karinthayil, the Rector of Good Shepherd Seminary, Dimapur, needed at least ten years of preparation after their matriculation.174 _Thus, Catholic mission resorted to importing priests from other parts of India (usually from the

172 _{John CB Webster, A Social History of Christianity: North-west India since 1800 (New Delhi: Oxford}

University Press, 2007), 292.

173 _{Syiemlieh, A Brief History of the Catholic Church in Nagaland, 57.} 174 _{Interview of Karinthayil.}

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states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala). The aforementioned, Karinthayil, for instance, was originally from Kerala, but joined as a diocesan priest of the Naga Catholic church in 1960, and has been serving the church in different capacities since then. Joseph James Felix, from Tamil Nadu, who replaced Morrachino was the first of many Catholic priests from others parts of India to serve in Nagaland. It was only in 1989 that the first Naga Catholic Priests were ordained (discussed in section 4.2).

Not only within the churches, Naga Christians provided leadership in the society as a whole, living as they were in conflict situations. Often pastors and evangelists were the only educated ones in the rural areas, and thus the only ones with the necessary language skills to mediate between the security forces and the common people. Naga church leaders like Longri Ao also took up the role of apologists, taking up the case of the sufferings and afflictions of the people and writing to people in the government on their behalf. For example, when Pangyan Konyak, pastor of Chinglong village was arrested on 16 May 1955, and jailed for preaching in the restricted Tuensang area,175 Longri wrote two letters to the Political Officer. 176 _{In another instance, when pastor Longkoi was killed by the} security forces in August 1956, Longri Ao again wrote to the Governor on behalf of the Christian community.177 Longkoi was killed for protesting against military excesses. First of all, in June 1956, he was fined Rs 100 by the nationalists (NNC) for speaking against their violent activities. Second, in August 1956, he was arrested by the Indian security force. He died in their custody.178 Thus Christian leaders like Longri and Longkoi provided bold and courageous leadership amidst the dire circumstances in the society, often representing not only their own congregation but the whole society in dealing with

175 _{The GoI restricted Christian mission activity in Tuensang area, which was then under the North East}

Frontier Agency (NEFA), and not under the Naga Hills (detailed discussion in section 3.4).

176 _{Letter of Longri Ao to the Political Officer, 16 May 1955’; and ‘Letter of Longri Ao to W. Rynjah, 31}

May 1955.’

177 _{Letter of Longri Ao to Governor of Nagaland, 19 August 1956.’} 178 _{‘Letter of Longri Ao to Governor of Nagaland, 19 August 1956.’}

issues of military excesses and sufferings of the common people. These acts demonstrated to the Naga people that the churches’ message of ‘hope’ was not merely a promise of a distant future, but a practical reality for a society in dire circumstances.