‘Act of dehumanisation’: Nagaland CM slams auction of Naga skull in UK, writes to Jaishankar

In a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Rio said the auction of human remains ‘deeply hurts the sentiments’

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio urged the Centre to intervene and stop the proposed auction of a “19th-century horned Naga human skull” in the United Kingdom.

In a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Rio said the auction of human remains belonging to the Naga community “deeply hurts the sentiments” of the people in the state. The Nagaland CM also termed the auction act of “dehumanisation”. “The news of the proposed auction of Naga human remains in the UK has been received by all sections in a negative manner as it is a highly emotional and sacred issue for our people. It has been a traditional custom of our people to give the highest respect and honour for the remains of the demised,” Rio said.

The Hon'ble Chief Minister of Nagaland, Shri @Neiphiu_Rio writes to the Hon'ble External Affairs Minister of India, @DrSJaishankar with regard to the proposed auction of Naga human remains in the UK. pic.twitter.com/El9BD2yKsC

CMO Nagaland (@CmoNagaland) October 8, 2024

The auction of Naga ancestral human remains is scheduled to take place in the United Kingdom (UK) on Wednesday.  The human skull valued at 3,500- 4,000 UK pounds, is listed for a one-day sale by Swan Fine Art at Tetsworth, Oxfordshire. According to reports, it is part of an auction titled “The curious collector sale” and is catalogued alongside antiquarian books, manuscripts, paintings, jewellery, ceramics and furniture.

Urging the MEA to take up the matter with the Indian High Commission in the UK and ensure that the auctioning is halted, he wrote, “We urge the Government of India to do everything possible to ensure that the rights and emotions of our people are protected.”

Rio wrote to Jaishankar after the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR), an organisation comprising Church leaders and civil society representatives, wrote to the CM about the issue. “These human remains symbolize the violence that the British colonial power unleashed on the Nagas. Throughout the period of British rule, the Naga people were defined as ‘savages’ and ‘headhunters’, which are insulting tropes that continue to be perpetuated today,” the forum said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

According to Indian Express, the Naga community has been engaged for years to repatriate ancestral Naga human remains from the Pitts River Museum in Oxford, England.