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NNC delegation to see Nehru in Delhi |
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The next day a press communique appeared, '"We can give you complete autonomy but never complete independence. You can never hope to be independent. No State, big or small, in India, will be allowed to remain independent. We will use all our influence and power to suppress such tendencies," declared Pandit Nehru, in his interview with the Naga delegation yesterday.' From the Naga side the following statement was released, 'The Naga National Council recently sent a full representative body to Delhi to reach a settlement regarding their future relationship with India. In interviews with some of the Government of India leaders in Delhi, they were given to understand that their demands could not be satisfied in full. Since the people they represent will accept nothing short of their full demands, the members of the various delegations have decided that the Naga National Council is henceforth free to decide the future of the Naga people in the way that suits them best.' There was now little time to be lost and in order to return quickly the Nagas decided to go by aeroplane and fly to Calcutta. There they caught the Assam Mail and reached Kohima on 12 August. (47) |
