A mass walkathon was organised by the Eastern Naga Students’ Federation (ENSF) on Friday in support of the “collective demand” of the people of Eastern Nagaland for a Frontier Nagaland state made up of six of the 16 districts of the state.

The walkathon was held in 63 clusters, each comprising four to five villages in the six districts of Tuensang, Mon, Longleng, Kiphire, Noklak and Shamator.

The participants in each cluster walked to the nearest administrative headquarters where the ENSF’s seven federating units submitted a two-page memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi through the respective deputy commissioners.

The memorandum submitted by one of the units — Chang Wedoshi Setshang (Chang Students’ Conference) — stated that successive state governments had neglected the region, one of the remotest in the country, since Nagaland attained statehood in 1963. The region has been “deprived of basic necessities of life” such as education, health and economic growth, the memorandum said.

Making it clear that they will remain steadfast in their pursuit of Frontier Nagaland, the memorandum urged the Centre “to immediately and proactively look into the long cherished dream of the people of the Eastern Nagaland over the legitimate demand of Frontier Nagaland/statehood demand...”. The memorandum said they would be anticipating a positive and prompt response.

“The walkathon had participation from all villages and towns, around 451, in Eastern Nagaland. The farthest villages from the administrative centres started at 5am. ENPO and seven Tribal Hoho leaders and members also participated. Over two lakh people participated in the walkathon through which we want to convey to the government that our statehood demand is a collective demand and we are all united,” ENSF president Chingmak Chang told The Telegraph.

Protesters carried placards that read “Frontier Nagaland for us”; “No more false promises”; “Liberate us from tyranny”; “You can’t silence the awakened”; “Show us your kind gesture” and “Enough of unfair treatment, free us”. They walked anywhere between 5km and 10km.

The ENSF had decided to hold the public walkathon in September in support of the Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation (ENPO)’s August 26 resolution to abstain from participating in any state or central election process till its demand for Frontier Nagaland was fulfilled.

The influential ENPO, the apex body of seven tribal organisations from Eastern Nagaland, is also spearheading the separate statehood demand because of underdevelopment in the region.

The seven tribal bodies represent the Konyak, Chang, Khiamniungan, Phom, Sangtam, Yimkhiung and Tikhir communities. The ENPO had on August 9 held rallies in support of Frontier Nagaland.

The statehood demand was formally raised in 2010 comprising the six districts having 20 of the 60 Assembly seats and a population of about 10 lakh, almost 48 per cent of Nagaland’s population.

The seven ENSF federating units, which submitted the memorandum to the Prime Minister included Chang Wedoshi Setshang, Konyak Students’ Union, Khiamniungan Students’ Union, Phom Students’ Conference, United Sangtam Students’ Conference, Tikhir Students’ Union, and Yimkhiung Akherü Arihako.

W. Lemba Chang, a member of the ENPO talks team on the issue of Frontier Nagaland with the Centre, told The Telegraph that their statehood demand was a “grassroots movement” and they hoped and prayed that the government of India understood the ground realities and agreed to ENPO’s demand at the earliest.

There will be no backtracking until a full-fledged state was granted, Chang said, adding more programmes in support of the statehood demand had been lined up.