Shiv Sena plans to rename Nagaland to Naganchi

Arunima Govindan (Aaj Tak)

Febraury 23 2003 (UTC) - Shiv Sena, in a recent meeting, discussed different names for Nagaland as they thought Nagaland was an impure name and not Indian. Therefore, they chose a new name for Nagaland - Naganchi, which is the ancient name of Nagaland from the local Naga language.

Most of the people of Nagaland are ok with this. However, one skeptical person said, "Nagaland was a name given by Indian government, not us. Why change it now ?"

This is the reaction of the people living in Kohima. They believe that Shiv Sena wishes to make Nagaland purely Indian and this is the first step in doing so.

Many people welcome this step, as they fear threats from other countries such as Burma and China.

The governor said,"This is one of the first chain of steps to integrate Nagaland into the Republic of India. We are sure this will be successful. After the first phase is finished, we will continue with the next step."

The government body will discuss this issue next Saturday when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will visit Nagaland and a proper decision will be taken.