Nascent ZPM may spring surprise : PM Modi faced mega 'Mizo hurdle' for mishandling Manipur
Aizawl
Polling is yet to be held yet the Mizoram assembly elections 2023 have already left a bitter lesson. And the party at the receiving end is none other than the BJP. The political shenanigans in the run up to the polls clearly put Prime Minister Narendra Modi in embarrassment; and thepolitical lesson is that the BJP governments at the centre and in neighbouring Manipur have not handled the Meitei-Kuki conflict effectively.
The "inability" for the Prime Minister to visit poll-bound Mizoram as planned on Oct 30 is a serious development which the saffron party itself cannot ignore. The Meitei-Kuki conflict in BJP-ruled Manipur has left Zo or Kuki tribals and a sizable Christian population aggrieved.
The Zos people share a tribal bond with Mizos in Mizoram and hence the chief election issue in Mizoramthis year is the Meitei-Kuki conflict. The 'polarisation' over the same issue is so serious that Zoramthanga,MNF chief minister, is sure of its win for having helped over 8000 aggrieved Kukis from Manipurwho took shelter in Mizoram.
MNF is part of the NDA at the national level but Chief Minister Zoramthanga declined to share the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"It will be better if the prime minister comes alone and he shares the platform by himself, and I take the stage separately by myself," Zoramthanga told BBC.
"The people of Mizoram are all Christians. When the people of Manipur (Meities) burned hundreds of churches in Manipur, they were (Mizos) totally against that kind of idea".
Otherwise the political battle in Mizoram is essentially triangular. The state's ruling MNF on one sideand Congress and another regional party Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) being two other parties.
The BJP and even the AAP are in the fray; but both these national parties are marginal players.
Five years back the ZPM candidates surprised analysts by winning eight seats and deprived Congressthe status of main opposition party.
"The Congress is not a major force in the state this time.Therefore, our party ZPM is the only alternative as people are fed up with both the MNF and the Congress," says former IPS officer Lalduhoma, who heads the ZPM.
His party has put up candidates in all 40 seats in the state and so has the Zoramthanga-led MNF.
MNF strategists think the people of Mizoram will reward the party and leadership of Zoramthanga, a formerinsurgent leader, for the party's performance since 2018 and for sticking with 'Chin and Kuki brother refugees' from violence-hit Myanmar and Mizoram.
On the other hand, the charge against Zoramthanga is about corruption and failure to deliver.
For its part, the Congress was already relegated to the third position in 2018 having won onyfive seats in the 40-member assembly.
The Congress says only it can save the Christian-majority state from the BJP’s Hindutva push.It has hyped the Manipur crisis and says people will have to show faith in the grand oldparty. The leadership is new in Congress as veteran Lalthanhawla, the five term Chief Minister,has retired. For last twenty years the MNF and the Congress have shared power for10 years each.And here comes the relevance of ZPM and whether it can really offer itself as a genuine alternative tothe MNF and the Congress.
Mizoram Congress president Lalsawta, 77, says, "The Manipur crisis provesthe danger the BJP's politics poses to the Mizo people and other tribals and Christians in the northeast".
However, local citizens such as a practicing lawyer Pu Lalrupui says, "The Congress has been unableto attack Zoramthanga and MNF and this is where ZPM gets a huge advantage".
Of course, like MNF and the ZPM, the Congress also has put up candidates in all 40 seats.The BJP, which had won only one seat in minority-Chakma dominated areas in 2018, is contesting23 seats this time. Party stalwarts J P Nadda and Nitin Gadkari have already campaigned.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP has nominated four candidates. AAP Nagaland chief Asu Keyho, a former legislator, is one of the star campaigners in Mizoram. "We mighthave fielded only four candidates.....because we came into Mizoram only recently. But our striking rate willbe the highest," Asu told this journalist.
Congress star campaigner Rahul Gandhi also visited the state.
The Congress MP rode a pillion on a two-wheeler to reach the residence of party veteran Lal Thanhawla.
"The Bharat Jodo Yatra celebrated the idea of India, where the diverse languages, religions, cultures and traditions of our country are respected and protected. The BJP destroyed that idea in Manipur. We will not allow them and MNF to do the same in Mizoram," he said.
Out of a total of 174 candidates for 40 seats, only 10 percent, that is 18 are women.
Three out of a total of 23 from BJP are women candidates amounting to 13%. Out of 40 candidates each from Congress, MNF and ZPM; coincidentally all three parties havefielded two women candidates each. Notably, there are nine Independent women candidates.
Known for male chauvinistic social structure, women have had little role to play inMizoram's politics. In 2018, MNF did not field any woman candidate and Congress had fielded only one.
The Zoram Thar, a spiritual group, had fielded five women candidates in 2018 but none could make it and with many even security deposits were forfeited.
Ms L Thanmawii was the first woman Mizo legislator to have won the assembly electionfrom Serchip constituency in 1978 on a People's Conference ticket.
ends
No comments:
Post a Comment