Describing as “undoubtedly ridiculous” the July 3, 2020 decision of the state cabinet banning dog meat, commercial import and trading of dogs in the markets and also sale of both cooked and uncooked, the Naga Hoho (NH) has appealed to the state government to review such order as “Naga people are not going to stop eating dog meat and thereby the law itself would become a mockery.” NH through its communication department maintained that Nagaland was never a part of Indian princely states and the history of migration, their customs and tradition and food habit and social life of the Nagas cannot be compared with the people in mainland India. NH has, therefore, said that the “right for food cannot be taken away by any authority on earth.”
Further, the hoho expressed surprise whether the state government was there to protect the rights of indigenous Naga people “or to just follow the orders according to the whims and fancies of the government of India.”
Among many reasons, NH said Naga people at large consider and value the dog meat as medicine and part of food habits. It said that “no forces can stop and alter the food habit and culture of another community whether through legislation or force.”
NH asserted that any directives that come from the government of India cannot be made into law without proper discussion in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly. “Today it is pertaining to dog meat, tomorrow all forms of alien culture may be imposed on us,” NH said, adding that the sanctity of Nagas’ existence would, therefore, perish if “we are unable to protect ourselves from such invasion against the rights of indigenous people.”