P. Shilu Ao

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P. Shilu Ao
1st
T. N. Angami
ConstituencyImpur
Personal details
Born
P. Shilu Ao

(1916-12-24)24 December 1916
Longjang, Naga Hills District, Assam Province, British India
(Now in Mokokchung District, Nagaland, India)
Died19 September 1988(1988-09-19) (aged 71)
Mokokchung, Mokokchung District, Nagaland, India
Political partyNaga People's Convention,
Naga Nationalist Organisation
Alma materCotton University, Gauhati University

P. Shilu Ao (24 December 1916 – 19 September 1988) was an Indian politician who was involved in the negotiations leading to the creation of

states and territories of India in December 1963. Ao then served as the first Chief Minister of Nagaland until August 1966. Ao played a part in persuading the Indian Government and the Lok Sabha to grant Nagaland separate statehood but was not able to reconcile many Naga nationalists who regarded him and his party, as stooges of the central government.[1]

Early life

Ao was born in the Longjang village of the

Christian and was Chairman/President of the Ao Christian Mungdang (ABAM) Platinum Jubilee Celebration in year 1946.[2] He then worked as a school teacher, as a headmaster and the Inspector of Schools at Kohima from year 1948 to year 1949.[2] Having joined the administrative service of Assam in 1954, Ao served as an assistant commissioner and first-class magistrate with the Government of Assam from 1954 to 1960.[4] He also served as Pastor-in-Charge of Kohima Ao Baptist Church from year 1948 to year 1949.[2] In the year 1950 to 1952 he also served as Headmaster of Government Middle School, Wokha.[2] He served under Government of Assam as EAC cum First Class Magistrate during years 1954 to 1960.[2]

Career

Politics

In 1960, Ao resigned from government service and entered politics joining the

Angami Zapu Phizo calling for Naga independence from India. The Convention, established in 1954, however, took a moderate stance calling for the establishment of a separate administrative unit within Assam by merging the Tuensang division of North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) with the Naga Hills District of Assam. The Government of India agreed to this demand in 1957, creating the Naga Hills and Tuensang Area. In 1960, Jawaharlal Nehru met an NPC delegation, and the Government of India and the NPC signed a 16-point resolution, which called for the establishment of a state of Nagaland. Nehru announced the acceptance of this resolution in Parliament on 1 August 1960.[5] Ao was part of the NPC team that drafted the resolution and met with Nehru and was one of the signatories of the accord reached between the Nagas and the Indian government.[4]

Chief Minister

In February 1961, under the Nagaland Regulation Act, a 42-member Interim Body with a five-member Executive Council was set up with Ao as the Chief Executive Councillor.

Governor of Assam and Nagaland the same day. Ao served as leader of the house of the Nagaland Assembly for 5 years from 1961 to 1966 and as Chief Minister of Nagaland from 1 December 1963, to 14 August 1966, during which time he also led the Naga Nationalist Organisation (NNO) to victory in the first Nagaland Assembly elections of 1964.[6][7][8][9]

Ao's government passed a resolution in 1964 calling for the integration of

T.N. Angami as Chief Minister.[12]

In 1969, Ao contested for the Impur constituency seat as an Independent. He lost to the sitting MLA M. Koramoa Jamir of the Naga Nationalist Organisation by 162 votes.[13]

Commissions

Following his resignation as Chief Minister, Ao was appointed chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in 1966.[2] He headed a committee set up by the Planning Commission to appraise the functioning of tribal development programs in the Third Five Year Plan.[2] The committee made several recommendations on tribal welfare policy, classification of tribes and on protective and administrative measures for tribal communities.[4][14] In subsequent elections to the Nagaland Legislative Assembly, Ao performed poorly, but he remained a senior party leader of the opposition United Front of Nagaland for several years.[4]

Death

Ao died at Mokokchung on 19 September 1988,[2] following a prolonged period of ill health, and was buried with state honors two days later at his native village, Longjang, in the Mokokchung district. As head of the NPC, Ao enabled Naga politics to adapt to and adopt successfully the Indian parliamentary democratic model of governance, despite problems with insurgent groups continuing.[15] In 2004, J B Jasokie a former Chief Minister of Nagaland revealed that he had voluntarily stepped aside to allow Ao to become the state's first chief minister on account of the latter's seniority and perfect understanding, despite having won more votes among the legislators than Ao.[16]

Notes

  1. ^ Nag, pp. 270-271
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x "A Befitting monument for the first Chief Minister of Nagaland". easternmirrornagaland.com. 10 August 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  3. ^ "CMHSS Impur: The Oldest School in Nagaland". The India Post. 6 June 2008. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d e "'P Shilu Ao', a legend... gone and forgotten". Nagaland Post. 11 August 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  5. ^ "The Quest for Naga Accord". Archived from the original on 18 February 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  6. ^ "Chief Minister of Nagaland". Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  7. ^ "Nagaland Legislative Assembly". Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  8. ^ .
  9. .
  10. ^ Nag, p. 271
  11. ^ "All unquiet on the Naga front". First Post. 3 June 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  12. .
  13. Times of India
    . p. 13.
  14. .
  15. ^ "Operation hornbill festival 2004". Seminar. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  16. ^ "Many precious years and money gone that could have prospered Nagaland: Jasokie". 7 February 2004. Retrieved 20 January 2013.

References

  • Nag, Sajal, Contesting Marginality: Ethnicity, Insurgence and Subnationalism in North-East India, Technical Publications, 2002, , 9788173044274