Mizoram polls: Manipur, Myanmar issues, Mizo identity, poor roads take centrestage

Turmoil in Manipur to Myanmar and even in the Middle East has cast its shadow on Mizoram in the northeastern tip of India, leading to a resurgence of identity politics.

Around 35,000 refugees who share a common ethnicity with the Zo-Kukis have taken shelter in the state to escape violence that broke out in neighbouring Myanmar following the February 1, 2021, military coup.

The state further gave refuge to over 12,000 people of Kuki-Zo ethnicity displaced by ethnic violence in Manipur that started on May 3 this year.

The Mizos have also opened their state’s boundary to accommodate their ethnic brethren from the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh following a military crackdown against a Kuki militant group in that country.

Currently, around 6,000 Bom refugees of Zo-Kuki-Chin ethnicity are residing in the state.

Last month, when Hamas launched a savage attack on Israel, drawing the troubled region into a horrific war, prayer meetings and candlelight vigils were organised in various parts of Mizoram.

Mizo Jews, known as Beni Menashe, claim their roots are traced to one of the 10 Biblical lost tribes of Israel. Hundreds of the community members have migrated to take citizenship of Israel. Several among them are now fighting the Hamas as part of Israel's armed forces.

Identity politics

These conflicts, particularly the attacks on the Kuki-Zo community and the burning of churches in Manipur, have induced a kind of identity assertion in the run-up to the Assembly elections, which was never seen in election campaigns in the state in the recent past.

All the major players in the fray barring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have centred their campaign for the November 7 election on the Mizo identity.

The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) even revived its old demand for the unification of all the Zo-Kuki inhabited areas under one administrative umbrella to form a greater Zo land.

The demand was first raised by the MNF when it had launched a secessionist movement in 1966. But it dropped the demand during the signing of the historic Mizo Accord with the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government in 1986.

In the wake of ethnic clashes, the call for a greater Zo land has been renewed. The MNF has even pledged it in its election manifesto.

During the campaign, primarily done through a joint platform, the party highlighted the steps taken by the Zoramthanga-led MNF government to provide relief to the Zo-Kuki-Chin refugees.

MNF and others

The MNF’s traditional political rival, the Congress, or its recently ascendant challenger Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) too have made the Mizo pride a poll issue to ensure that the ruling party does not monopolise it.

The BJP is the only one not at ease with the election plank because of the alleged failure of the party-led governments at the Centre as well as in Manipur to prevent ethnic violence raging in the neighbouring state since May.

The BJP government at the Centre is also not very welcoming to the refugees who crossed over from Myanmar and Bangladesh, putting the party in Mizoram on the backfoot.

The saffron party has strategically kept its focus primarily on the religious (Chakmas) and ethnic (Maras and Lai) minority areas in western and southern parts of the state.

Corruption, growing drug menace and lack of infrastructures such as all-weather roads were the other talking points dominating campaigns that were typically low-pitched because of the initiatives of the Mizo People’s Forum (MPF), a civil society-backed election watchdog active since 2008 assembly elections.

Pathetic infrastructure

The poor condition of roads in the state was the focus during the campaigning that ended on Sunday evening. It’s not without any reason.

The kind of road infrastructure in Mizoram can be gauged by the fact that the Public Works Department had to make special efforts to prepare approach roads to 22 polling stations so that polling officials could reach there.

These polling stations are located in Lunglei district (11), Mamit district (6) and Lawngtlai district (5).

Water transports have to be arranged for polling stations catering 10 villages in West Tuipui assembly constituency; four villages in Thorang Assembly constituency; four villagers in Lawngtlai West seat and one in Mamit constituency the state which are accessible only by boats, election officials said.

At least 39 polling stations in six districts have been declared “critical”. Most of these are located near Mizoram’s international borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh. Both the borders have been sealed.

There are 174 candidates in the fray for the 40 assembly seats that will see voting on Tuesday (November 7).

Chief electoral officer Madhup Vyas said some 3,000 police personnel and 450 sections of central armed police forces have been deployed to ensure free and fair elections.

Besides, there are 21 general, 14 expenditure and 11 police observers to keep a tab on the polling process.

Mizo, non-Mizo

Vyas said the total electoral size of the state is 8,57,093 including 4,39,026 female voters and 4,975 service voters. The webcasting will be done in 769 (60 per cent) of the 1,276 polling stations.

The MNF, the ZPM and the Congress are contesting all the Assembly seats while the BJP is contesting 23 seats and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded candidates in four seats. There are 27 independent nominees.

The MNF, ZPM and the Congress party fielded two women candidates each while the BJP fielded three women. It withdrew the nomination of another woman candidate under the pressure of the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) or Mizo students federation for being the spouse of a non-tribal.

The Congress, however, refused to buckle under the similar diktat of the MZP, which opposes the candidature of Mizo women candidates married to non-tribals and has retained the candidature of Meriam L. Hrangchal.