The Naga "apex" bodies and civil societies: Examining the expansive role of collective groups in contested statehood

In the context of contested statehood and a ceasefire society in Naga areas of Northeast India, civil society organizations (CSOs) and interest groups occupy the middle spaces between Indian S/state and insurgents. Political order in Naga society in the Northeast of India is multifaceted, with multiple systems of governance functioning simultaneously in the same territory; the formal political structures (Indian S/state), traditional/customary institutions of rule, and insurgents (operating as a shadow government) There exist a plethora of civil societies, tribe-based organizations, and Students and Women’s organizations that have emerged out of indigenous polity, modern politics, and Naga nationalist struggles. When a civil society group is registered with the state, it is deemed a CSO and receives the benefits of state recognition, however, some civil society groups and apex bodies are consciously not registered with the state to de-recognize the Indian S/state’s legitimacy. These organizations seek to influence structures of governance at various levels with state and non-state sources of authority; the tribe-based councils, apex student organizations, and women organizations are the legitimized representatives of the people such that their rules and mandates are adhered to. This paper uses the ‘local turn’ approach to empirically engage with local complexities, focuses on the role of civil society organizations in the Naga context, and introspect civil societies in contested statehood, governance, and Indian democracy in Nagaland and Manipur, India. Using methods of political ethnography, it examines civil society organizations based on interviews and conversations with 37 organized CSOs, tribe councils, Student Unions, and Women’s organizations. This paper aims to complicate the designated terminologies, definitions, and concepts given to these collective groups with empirical evidence of their expansive roles in legal governance, security governance, peace-keeping, social policing, social services, and even as a parallel political institution to state.