GUWAHATI
Fifteen years after the Manipur government thwarted his last homecoming attempt, Thuingaleng Muivah is scheduled to visit his village, Somdal, in the State’s Ukhrul district on October 22.
Emotions are running high as people in the village and the district beyond prepare to welcome the 90-year-old general secretary of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) for the first time after he left Somdal in 1970 to fight for an independent Naga homeland.
The NSCN, which declared a ceasefire with the Centre in 1997, is more familiar as NSCN (I-M), or the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland.
“The much-awaited homecoming of Avakharar (honorific in the Tangkhul dialect for Mr. Muivah) to Ukhrul and his birthplace, Somdal, is a matter of immense joy for every Tangkhul soul. We warmly welcome him with open hearts and prayers for his good health and safety,” Epchan Kapai, the chairman of the Tangkhul Naga Zingtun Longphang (TNZL), said.
TNZL is an organisation of Tangkhul people inhabiting the northern part of the community’s domain straddling the Ukhrul and Kamjong districts of Manipur. Zingtun means north.
“We have long prayed for the day of his return to his native place. The Naga movement gained direction, dignity, and determination under his leadership. His sacrifice and service for the Naga people are unmatched,” A. Nathan, the chairman of the apex body representing the southern (Zingsho) Tangkhul people, said.
“For the Tangkhul region in particular, and the Nagas in general, his historic visit will remain one of the most precious and auspicious,” Wungpam L. Shimray, the chairman of the eastern (Ato) Tangkhul region’s apex community body, said. His western (Aze) counterpart, Sophayo Siro, was equally effusive.
Once most wanted
As the general secretary of the underground Naga National Council (NNC), which was seeking independence for the Naga-inhabited areas of the northeast, Mr. Muivah was the most wanted man in Manipur in the 1970s. The reward on his head was revised several times from the initial ₹1,00,000.
He quit the NNC after differences with other leaders of the group following the Shillong Accord of 1975. Along with Isak Chishi Swu and S.S. Khaplang, he formed the NSCN in January 1980.
Swu died in June 2016, and Khaplang died in June 2017.
Mr Muivah fell out with Khaplang over pursuing talks with the government of India. This led to a split in the NSCN into the Isak-Muivah and the Khaplang factions.
As the NSCN (I-M) began engaging in talks with the Centre, what rankled was Mr Muivah’s inability to visit his Somdal home, although there were no restrictions on other leaders of the outfit.
Nagaland’s Dimapur, where he has mostly stayed after returning to India, is about 160 km northwest of Somdal. Yet, this distance became increasingly difficult for Mr Muivah to cover, particularly after the Manipur government and local organisations opposed the Centre’s decision to extend the scope of its ceasefire with the NSCN (I-M) on June 14, 2001.
The extension was aimed at covering Naga-inhabited areas of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Manipur, apart from Nagaland. Manipur’s non-Nagas saw this extension as a direct threat to the State’s territorial integrity and feared that it would lead to the creation of the ‘Greater Nagalim’ espoused by the NSCN (I-M).
The Centre reverted to the original agreement after protestors burnt down the Manipur Assembly building and other government offices in Imphal, and more than a dozen people were killed in police firing.
The next conflict was in 2010 when Manipur’s Congress government refused to let Mr Muivah in through the State’s border with Nagaland. Six people were killed during the stand-off on the interstate border.
There has been no opposition to Mr. Muivah’s scheduled visit, announced on October 10, this time.
Published – October 14, 2025 04:16 pm IST
