Shillong: Niketu Iralu, a towering figure in Naga peace activism, died Tuesday afternoon at a Delhi hospital. He was 91. Illness struck him suddenly back home, forcing an urgent medical evacuation to the capital. His wife Christine and son Vipulei stood by his side until the end.
Iralu came from a prominent family. His father served as Nagaland's first doctor, and he was the nephew of legendary leader AZ Phizo. In the 1950s, he broke ground as one of the first Nagas to leave the region for higher education at Madras Christian College. He spent his later years at his home, Kerünyü Ki, or The House of Listening. Visitors arrived daily with gifts of food to seek his counsel on the region's deepest problems.
Former Union Home Secretary Gopal Pillai remembered him as "a soft spoken gentleman of peace. We will miss his words of wisdom and advice in the coming years."
Iralu’s work spanned decades of volatility. He championed reconciliation through the Khonoma Reconciliation Commission and later through the Forum for Naga Reconciliation. He also worked with the Naga Baptist Church, the Naga Hoho, and Initiatives of Change. Beyond politics, he fought the region’s substance abuse epidemic. His commitment to regional harmony earned him the 2023 Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Integration Award. He faced down critics and powerful factions alike to push for a just peace. His influence was immense. As one Naga scholar noted, he was the person everyone turned to for guidance, leaving a void that remains difficult to fill.
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