Reticent and media shy, Mizoram CM Zoramthanga (in the centre in the image above) answers questions about Manipur’s ethnic strife, the Mizo unification goal and Uniform Civil Code. The three-time CM and Mizoram National Front president heads into state elections to the 40-member assembly later this year
Q: Manipur CM Biren Singh, other BJP leaders and Meitei civil society organisations have accused you of interfering in the state’s internal affairs and supporting the Kuki-Zomi community.
A: I have never interfered in Manipur’s internal affairs. I want peace and normalcy to return to the neighbouring state. My party, Mizo National Front (MNF), supported unification of all contiguous areas inhabited by ethnic Mizos. This is not new.
When MNF was formed in 1961, the year Biren Singh was born, unification of all the ethnic Mizo-inhabited areas under a single administration was one of MNF’s main objectives. We continue to strive for this to date. The lands we inhabited were divided into India, Burma and Pakistan by the British government during partition and again into Mizoram, Manipur, Assam and Tripura by the Centre after Independence.
A: I have never interfered in Manipur’s internal affairs. I want peace and normalcy to return to the neighbouring state. My party, Mizo National Front (MNF), supported unification of all contiguous areas inhabited by ethnic Mizos. This is not new.
When MNF was formed in 1961, the year Biren Singh was born, unification of all the ethnic Mizo-inhabited areas under a single administration was one of MNF’s main objectives. We continue to strive for this to date. The lands we inhabited were divided into India, Burma and Pakistan by the British government during partition and again into Mizoram, Manipur, Assam and Tripura by the Centre after Independence.