Mizoram Assembly Polls in 7 Months, Political Parties Ready Battleground

Kolkata: Political parties in Christian-majority Mizoram are already actively preparing the ground for poll campaigns as elections for the 40-member Assembly are about seven-and-a-half months away. The elections are usually held between the end of November and early December.

This small northeast state has had political stability since January 1989. The government was formed during this period either by the Mizo National Front (MNF) or the Congress. Since December 15, 2018, the MNF has been in power in the government, headed by Zoramthanga, who is holding the chief minister’s office for the third time.

Speaking to NewsClick, several political leaders indicated that the main players are already active in their own way vying for power or at least becoming a deciding factor.

Two more parties are in the fray – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM). Originally, the ZPM, meaning hill people’s movement, was an amalgam of several movement-based outfits; despite desertion by two-three units in recent years, it remains an active organisation. Both BJP and ZPM had participated in the 2018 Assembly elections. While ZPM managed a tally of eight out of 35 seats it contested, the BJP had to be content with a lone seat, although it had put up candidates in 39 constituencies.

Mizoram is the only Northeastern state where the Congress used to be in a much better position with a tally of over 30 seats. However, before the 2018 elections, the exits of many active workers left the party weak, and it could win only five seats. The MNF carried the day with an almost two-thirds majority and has been able to provide a stable ministry under Zoramthanga’s leadership.

State BJP President Vanlalhmuaka told NewsClick, “Our national president Jagat Prakash Nadda has told us to organise the party to the mandal and booth level well in advance. Side by side, we are informing voters about the welfare schemes formulated by the Centre and how they stand to benefit from those schemes.” Claiming that the saffron party is getting a good response, the party president said that people, including youth, are coming forward to hear and join them.

“In the election to the Mara Autonomous District Council last year in May, our party had won 12 of the 25 seats, yet because of political engineering by MNF, which allied with the Congress, we could not form the Council. Hindutva, CAA and UCC are their weapons against us, but our job is to remove misconceptions. We have already built a functional organisation in 16 out of 40 seats,” Vanlalhmuaka said.

ZPM working President K Sapdanga is also confident about his party's prospects. He said, “Our party is for reform, systemic change, transparency, and an effective ban on liquor consumption. In its concept of reform and transparency, there is no place for money distribution in the name of development. Cash offer breeds corruption. Since it came into being in 2017 (it got registration in 2019), and tested the electoral waters in 2018, the party has been trying to grow as an alternative to MNF and the Congress. People are for change. In the recently held Lunglei civic body election, we won hands down and bagged all 11 seats and that has provided us an impetus months before the Assembly elections. We want to fight it on our own. The central leadership alone is competent to decide on alliance post-election,” Sapdanga told NewsClick.

ZPM president Lalliansawta claimed after the results were declared on April 3, it was evident that people wanted an alternative. The Assembly elections will be an occasion for voters to bring about a change, he said.

MNF General Secretary T Liansiama is not prepared to accept BJP and ZPM as threats to his party, which he claimed had proved its credentials over the years and voters had been reposing faith in the stewardship of Zoramthanga. The party has come a long way since the June 30, 1986, peace accord with the Union government. “If it is today recognised as a successful peace accord, it is because of MNF’s commitment to peace and welfare of the people. Consecutive elections have been held successfully, and barring a spell or two of the President’s rule, the state has enjoyed stability. There have been some acts of indiscipline by a few of our leaders and the leadership had taken action against them. MNF’s main rival has been the Congress, which has become weak. The situation remains favourable for MNF, which would fight the election alone,” Liansiama told NewsClick. The party is part of the North-East Democratic Alliance but not of NDA.

Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee president Lalsawta dismissed the claims made by the MNF General Secretary and said the Congress has the resilience to bounce back. In the past, when the Congress formed the ministry under the stewardship of Lalthanhawla, it had won over 30 seats each time. The party fared poorly in 2018 as several active leaders had deserted it. “We are reactivating the workers, inducing youths to join us. By the time of the election, it will regain strength; we should not be written off,” Lalsawta told NewsClick.

Political observers generally agree that Mizoram may witness a keenly contested Assembly election because of the move on the part of BJP and ZPM to be seriously in the fray. The last several Assembly elections produced clear verdicts, and the state has not witnessed horse-trading. Like in Christian-dominated Nagaland, the church is also a factor in Mizoram, whose Christian population is marginally less than Nagaland’s 89% plus. In recent times, church leaders have voiced their concern over the attacks on their academic institutions, churches and property allegedly by Sangh Parivar elements. The BJP has its work cut out to allay their fears.

Meanwhile, NGOs and other outfits engaged in voluntary welfare work, who are part of the Central Young Mizo Association, are conducting vigils on the border with Myanmar to prevent crossing over to the Indian side by people of that country. The vigilance, which supplements official efforts, followed the killing of three Mizoram villagers who went missing on March 19. According to a report published in The Hindu edition on March 30, they had allegedly crossed over after being summoned by an extremist organisation operating from Myanmar.

The India-Myanmar border is 1,643 km long; the share of four north-east states – Arunachal, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram -- being 520 km, 215 km, 398 km and 510 km, respectively. Mizoram also has a 318 km border with Bangladesh. In this regard, Assistant Secretary of Central Young Mizo Associaion Prof Sawma told NewsClick, “The Chin refugees are Mizo ethnic groups living in Myanmar. Our association immediately provides them relief on humanitarian grounds whenever they take refuge in Mizoram.”