The Imphal Free Press

Aizawl April 13: In this small state in North East India, the fight for the lone Lok Sabha seat has started on religion-based issues as the joint opposition’s Mizoram Secular Force (MSF) - comprising the three parties in the state, Congress, Mizoram People’s Conference and Zoram Nationalist Party - declared war on the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) party through Christianity versus Hindutva.
Taking no notice of the Election’s Commission caution not to mix religion and politics in the campaign for the 14th Lok Sabha, the MSF and the MNF has tried to get the better of its opponent through which one is the better Christian. The MNF, having recently joined the National Democratic Front at the Centre, is being labeled a communal party siding with Hindu extremists such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, RSS and Bajrang Dal by the MSF. Caught on a wrong footing in this pre-dominantly Christian state, the MNF has to spend most of its time convincing the people that being a part of the NDA do not necessarily mean having aligned with Hindu extremists.
The MSF, however, has taken advantage of playing to the Christian sentiment of the people by nominating Dr Laltuangliana Khiangte, an academician and a well-known writer who comes from a solid Christian background for its candidate. In contrast to the MNF’s candidate, Vanlalzawma, who was the sitting MP in the 13th Lok Sabha, Dr Khiangte’s antecedant could play a vital role in whether he becomes part of the 14th Lok Sabha or not. The opposition is playing up the fact that Dr Khiangte is the grandson of one of the foremost and most famous of pastors in the Mizo community, Reverand Liangkhaia.
The MNF, meanwhile, is not sitting back and taking the flak quietly. Chief Minister Zoramthanga, the Northeast’s “Bamboo CM”, has stressed time and again that the MNF, having come back to power after the 2003 state assembly elections, has found favour with God and that his party’s intention and his main objective was to produce one lakh missionaries to spread the gospel. In effect, he is saying the MNF party has God on its side and the people would do well to side with it.
Another angle the MNF is pursueing is that the state needs experienced parliamentarians to represent it. It also underscores heavily the pro-NDA opinion polls and says the state does not need an MP in the opposition.
Meanwhile, a small thorn on the side of both the MNF and the MSF is the candidate from a little known party called Ephraim Union, who has decided to rake up the old issue of becoming an independent entity as Mizoram had been forced to be a part of India when India gained its independence from the British in 1947. The Ephraim Union has espoused that the first Mizo political party, the erstwhile Mizo Union, had signed a pact in 1947 to be a part of India for only 10 years. The Ephraim Union was formed by a section of the Mizo society which believes that the Mizos were descendents of the ten lost tribe of Biblical Israel and hence the name, Ephraim, the son of Joseph and grandson of Jacob, who was renamed Israel by God according to the Old Testament.
It is within this purview that the Ephraim Union said it would give a jolt to India to have someone who is a descendent of the Israel tribe sit in parliament which would pave the way for a peaceful separation of the state from the rest of India.
However, the people of Mizoram do not seem to be paying much attention to what this party is saying despite the obscure history of the Mizos because of lack of written records. In all probability, the fight for this lone seat would be contained between the ruling MNF candidate and the opposition’s MSF candidate.
What is clear, however, is that despite the country’s secular colours, the main issue would be Christianity versus Hinduism as the MSF has played heavily on the persecution of Christians in different parts of the country during the last five years. The MNF, having joined the NDA, has no choice but to prove itself the better Christian so as to attract the nearly cent per cent Christian population’s vote. The MNF, after taking the seat of power again after the 2003 assembly elections, has made heavy inroads into the parties’ ranks and according to press releases of the party, nearly ten thousand new members have been inducted into the MNF since December 2003 till now.
If the MNF can translate the new members into votes, the joint effort of three parties may not be enough to stop it. However, the catch in the MNF’s swelling ranks is that people may not be joining it because of idealogies, but because of hunger. The majority of the poeple had suffered through two Congress terms and one MNF term. It could very well be the fear that more suffering awaits those who is not part of the winning team that has attracted so many people to the ruling party. Would these people really switch their loyalty when push comes to shove?
Another favour that could be working for the opposition is the fact that whenever one or political parties come together in the Lok Sabha elections, they have always defeated any single party irrespective of whether they are the ruling party or the opposition. This has occured three times in the political history of Mizoram and the formula mat still be potent this time round.
Come April 20, the more than fifty thousand strong voters in the state will decide who will represent the state in parliament. While one seat may not seem to matter much in a 540-member strong parliament, at present, it is the most important thing on the minds of the people of this small state tucked away between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the western-most part of the North East.
 

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