By Sushanta Talukdar
No door-to-door campaigns, no musical road shows, no feasts, no separate public rallies. These are some of the restrictions imposed on political parties by the Mizoram People’s Forum (MPF), an organ of the powerful Mizoram Presbyterian Church.
This has made electioneering in Mizoram low-key and colourless compared with the 2003 Assembly elections. However, the battle is tough this time in this tiny north-eastern State with the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) trying to defend its 10-year-old bastion against the Congress in the Assembly elections scheduled for December 2.
The third player is the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), comprising the Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP), the Mizoram People’s Conference (MPC) and the Zoram Kuthnathawktu Pawl (ZKP), a platform of farmers. The UDA’s presence has made it difficult for psephologists to predict an outcome.
The MNF’s main slogan is development. “Our main plank is continuation of the great development activities initiated by the MNF government over the past 10 years and finishing the unfinished task of development,” Chief Minister and party president Pu Zoramthanga told Frontline.
In the present 40-member Assembly, the MNF and its ally, the Maraland Democratic Front (MDF), have 23 seats, followed by the Congress (11), the MPC (3) and the ZNP (2). There is one independent member. The Chief Minister is confident that his party has overwhelming popular support and that the MNF will be voted back to power for a third term.
Describing the health care scheme introduced by his government as unique, Zoramthanga said it covered the entire population of Mizoram. He added that Mizoram was the most peaceful State in the country and that it had been made possible by the MNF’s good governance.
Zoramthanga announced the names of the “God-fearing” candidates at the MNF general headquarters, or Hnam Run, on November 6. The MNF will contest from 37 seats.
It has conceded two seats to its ally, the Mizoram Congress Party (MCP), and one to the MDF. Zoramthanga will contest from Champhai North, which he represents, and also from Champhai South. Both constituencies are close to the India-Myanmar border. In 2003, Zoramthanga contested from Champhai and Kolasib and won from both seats.
The Congress has promised to undertake massive economic reforms aimed at alleviating the condition of farmers and to create income-generating avenues for the weaker sections.
However, its main election plank is “corruption”. Pradesh Congress Committee president and former Chief Minister Lalthanhawla asserted that the people would throw out the MNF over the “rampant corruption and misuse of the public exchequer”. Lalthanhawla, who has been projected as the party’s chief ministerial candidate, is contesting from two constituencies, South Tuipui and Serchhip.
The party has fielded 38 candidates, leaving two seats for its ally, the Hmar People’s Conference (HPC). Lalthanhawla said that the tie-up with the HPC would help the Congress in five other seats.
“We are going to get an absolute majority and come back to power,” Lalthanhawla said. He hoped that electioneering by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party president Sonia Gandhi in the last leg of campaigning would improve the party’s prospects.
The UDA has projected former Chief Minister and veteran politician Brigadier T. Sailo as its chief ministerial candidate. Sailo had a brief stint as Chief Minister in his first tenure, from June 2, 1978, to November 10, 1978, but held the office for a full term from 1979 to 1984. Mizoram was at that time a Union Territory.
In 1986, Lalthanhawla stepped down as Chief Minister to make way for the then MNF president, Laldenga, who had led a two-decade-long underground insurgent movement from 1966 to 1986, to head the MNF-Congress interim government after the signing of the Mizo Accord on June 30, 1986. Lalthanhawla became Deputy Chief Minister in the Laldenga Ministry.
The MNF became the first insurgent group to form the government in an Indian State when the first full-fledged MNF government was installed in 1987.
The MNF came to power with 24 of the 40 Assembly seats, followed by the Congress with 13 and the People’s Conference with three. In 1989, the Congress recaptured power and Lalthanhawla became Chief Minister again; he went on to hold two terms from 1989 to 1998.
The Congress is trying to woo peasants with the campaign that the funds that were allocated by the Centre for providing relief to farmers hit by the recent “Mautam” have not reached many people. The allegation is ironic, because the ruling MNF grew out of the Mizo National Famine Front (MNFF), which was formed in response to the “Mautam” of 1958-1959.
Mautam is a famine that follows the flowering of a particular variety of bamboo, at intervals of 47-50 years over a wide range. The flowering leads to an increase in the populations of rodents and insects, which finish feasting on the bamboo seeds and then turn to other crops.) Zoramthanga was one of the front-ranking underground leaders.
The MNF counters the Congress campaign by telling voters that though the Mautam resulted in acute food shortage and a famine-like situation, there was not a single starvation death this time, unlike in the previous Mautam, thanks to the timely and effective intervention by the MNF government.
Frontline
No door-to-door campaigns, no musical road shows, no feasts, no separate public rallies. These are some of the restrictions imposed on political parties by the Mizoram People’s Forum (MPF), an organ of the powerful Mizoram Presbyterian Church.
This has made electioneering in Mizoram low-key and colourless compared with the 2003 Assembly elections. However, the battle is tough this time in this tiny north-eastern State with the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) trying to defend its 10-year-old bastion against the Congress in the Assembly elections scheduled for December 2.
The third player is the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), comprising the Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP), the Mizoram People’s Conference (MPC) and the Zoram Kuthnathawktu Pawl (ZKP), a platform of farmers. The UDA’s presence has made it difficult for psephologists to predict an outcome.
The MNF’s main slogan is development. “Our main plank is continuation of the great development activities initiated by the MNF government over the past 10 years and finishing the unfinished task of development,” Chief Minister and party president Pu Zoramthanga told Frontline.
In the present 40-member Assembly, the MNF and its ally, the Maraland Democratic Front (MDF), have 23 seats, followed by the Congress (11), the MPC (3) and the ZNP (2). There is one independent member. The Chief Minister is confident that his party has overwhelming popular support and that the MNF will be voted back to power for a third term.
Describing the health care scheme introduced by his government as unique, Zoramthanga said it covered the entire population of Mizoram. He added that Mizoram was the most peaceful State in the country and that it had been made possible by the MNF’s good governance.
Zoramthanga announced the names of the “God-fearing” candidates at the MNF general headquarters, or Hnam Run, on November 6. The MNF will contest from 37 seats.
It has conceded two seats to its ally, the Mizoram Congress Party (MCP), and one to the MDF. Zoramthanga will contest from Champhai North, which he represents, and also from Champhai South. Both constituencies are close to the India-Myanmar border. In 2003, Zoramthanga contested from Champhai and Kolasib and won from both seats.
The Congress has promised to undertake massive economic reforms aimed at alleviating the condition of farmers and to create income-generating avenues for the weaker sections.
However, its main election plank is “corruption”. Pradesh Congress Committee president and former Chief Minister Lalthanhawla asserted that the people would throw out the MNF over the “rampant corruption and misuse of the public exchequer”. Lalthanhawla, who has been projected as the party’s chief ministerial candidate, is contesting from two constituencies, South Tuipui and Serchhip.
The party has fielded 38 candidates, leaving two seats for its ally, the Hmar People’s Conference (HPC). Lalthanhawla said that the tie-up with the HPC would help the Congress in five other seats.
“We are going to get an absolute majority and come back to power,” Lalthanhawla said. He hoped that electioneering by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party president Sonia Gandhi in the last leg of campaigning would improve the party’s prospects.
The UDA has projected former Chief Minister and veteran politician Brigadier T. Sailo as its chief ministerial candidate. Sailo had a brief stint as Chief Minister in his first tenure, from June 2, 1978, to November 10, 1978, but held the office for a full term from 1979 to 1984. Mizoram was at that time a Union Territory.
In 1986, Lalthanhawla stepped down as Chief Minister to make way for the then MNF president, Laldenga, who had led a two-decade-long underground insurgent movement from 1966 to 1986, to head the MNF-Congress interim government after the signing of the Mizo Accord on June 30, 1986. Lalthanhawla became Deputy Chief Minister in the Laldenga Ministry.
The MNF became the first insurgent group to form the government in an Indian State when the first full-fledged MNF government was installed in 1987.
The MNF came to power with 24 of the 40 Assembly seats, followed by the Congress with 13 and the People’s Conference with three. In 1989, the Congress recaptured power and Lalthanhawla became Chief Minister again; he went on to hold two terms from 1989 to 1998.
The Congress is trying to woo peasants with the campaign that the funds that were allocated by the Centre for providing relief to farmers hit by the recent “Mautam” have not reached many people. The allegation is ironic, because the ruling MNF grew out of the Mizo National Famine Front (MNFF), which was formed in response to the “Mautam” of 1958-1959.
Mautam is a famine that follows the flowering of a particular variety of bamboo, at intervals of 47-50 years over a wide range. The flowering leads to an increase in the populations of rodents and insects, which finish feasting on the bamboo seeds and then turn to other crops.) Zoramthanga was one of the front-ranking underground leaders.
The MNF counters the Congress campaign by telling voters that though the Mautam resulted in acute food shortage and a famine-like situation, there was not a single starvation death this time, unlike in the previous Mautam, thanks to the timely and effective intervention by the MNF government.
Frontline
No comments:
Post a Comment