Imphal | EKHON: The All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur (ANSAM) has directed all its constituent and subordinate units to mark the 75th Naga Plebiscite Day on May 16 by hoisting the Naga national flag as circumstances permit.
In a statement released on Friday, the student body called upon Naga communities across Manipur and other Naga-inhabited areas to commemorate the historic occasion with “utmost solemnity, patriotic reverence, and collective national consciousness,” amid “acute national tribulation, orchestrated intimidation, and escalating socio-political volatility across the Naga homeland.”
ANSAM asserted that the 1951 Naga Plebiscite remains “an indestructible testament to the inalienable political aspiration and historical legitimacy of the Naga people,” declaring that no “coercive stratagem, militarised provocation, or political manipulation” could extinguish the “indomitable spirit of the Nagas.”
The association further appealed to all educational institutions in Naga-inhabited areas to formally observe the day in honour of the historic plebiscite.
Calling for vigilance, discipline, and unity, ANSAM urged all units and the public to commemorate the occasion with “profound honour and uncompromising patriotic fortitude.”
The Naga Plebiscite of May 16, 1951, organised under the banner of the Naga National Council (NNC) and led by A.Z. Phizo, occupies a central place in Naga political history.
The plebiscite was conducted to demonstrate the collective political aspiration of the Naga people for self-determination and sovereignty. Historical narratives associated with the NNC state that an overwhelming majority of Nagas expressed support for independence through thumb impressions collected across Naga areas.
The plebiscite followed earlier political assertions by Naga leaders, including the memorandum submitted to the Simon Commission in 1929 and the declaration of Naga independence on August 14, 1947.
Over the decades, the plebiscite has remained a deeply symbolic and politically sensitive event, commemorated annually by various Naga civil society organisations and nationalist groups as an affirmation of Naga identity, history, and political aspirations.
