The Making of a Naga Statesman: S.C. Jamir and the Politics of Northeast India

Jungshi Jamir

There is a house in Nagaland whose rooms hold more Indian history than most archives. Its owner, S.C. Jamir, has lived his ninety-plus years at the centre of modern India’s political story – as parliamentarian, union minister, four-time chief minister of Nagaland and the governor of four states.

In The Making of a Naga Statesman, his nephew, Jungshi Jamir, tells the extraordinary story of a boy from Ungma Village who travelled from the hills of Nagaland to the heart of the Indian republic. Along the way, Jamir witnessed and participated in some of the most consequential chapters in the history of independent India, while navigating the enduring questions of Naga identity, sovereignty, insurgency, violence and peace.

S.C. Jamir survived several attacks on his life, and is perhaps the only living political leader to have worked with Indian prime ministers from Jawaharlal Nehru (as his parliamentary secretary) to Narendra Modi (as governor of Gujarat during Modi’s chief ministership).

Drawing on extensive interviews and unique family access, this is both an intimate portrait of a contemporary politician and a serious work of history. It tells a remarkable life story, and the story of India itself, seen from one of its frontier states.