As ally Mizo National Front seeks to milk Manipur, BJP is worried

GUWAHATI: The incumbent Mizo National Front (MNF) will look to win Mizoram again in next month's assembly elections, but its inclination to make the ongoing strife in neighbouring Manipur its main poll plank is making its ally BJP anxious.

The MNF led by former guerilla leader and two-time chief minister Zoramthanga had ousted Congress in the 2018 election. Zoramthanga has been campaigning for a homeland for all the Zohnahthlak (Zo ethnic tribes) across the North-Eastern region, which includes the Chin-Kuki-Zo tribal inhabitants of the Manipur hills and the Mizos in Mizoram. They share the same culture and ancestry and all follow Christianity.

Zoramthanga says unification of all the Mizo-inhabited areas into a single administration has been the political objective of MNF since the late Laldenga formed the party on October 22, 1962. Over 12,000 Kuki-Zo-Zomi people of Manipur have fled to Mizoram and they are being looked after by the state government.

However, BJP, which won its first seat in Mizoram in 2018, is wary of MNF's campaign for a 'Greater Mizoram'. "In order to hide his failure to fulfill the tall promises he had made in the 2018 election, (Zoramthanga) is trying to use the Manipur issue to drum up support for his party," Mizoram's BJP in-charge Mmhonlumo Kikon told TOI.

Political analysts say the Zoramthanga government had been facing anti-incumbency until the unrest erupted in Manipur in May.

In its seventh attempt, BJP is hoping to do better in the Christian-majority state that has over 8.5 lakh voters, more than half of whom are women.

While voting for all 40 assembly seats in Mizoram will take place on November 7, MNF and the opposition Congress have expressed strong objection to the Election Commission over counting of votes on December 3, a Sunday and a sacred day for Christians.