Mizoram CM Zoramthanga, also a former guerrilla, has a new mission

In this life, which began around 1966 and spans a good 20 years, Zoramthanga's life reads like a spy novel.

Before he became the Chief Minister of Mizoram and embraced the humdrum life of running a state, Zoramthanga was a guerrilla. In this life, which began around 1966 and spans a good 20 years, his life reads like a spy novel.

As a deputy of Laldenga, the indefatigable Mizo rebel leader and chief of the Mizo National Front (MNF), which carried out a secessionist movement, Zoramthanga spent much of his time running from the Indian government, forcing him to hopscotch across Myanmar, Bangladesh (then East Pakistan), Islamabad and China. 

The "James Bond-type escape" (as he put it to DH in 2018) from the Chittagong Hill Tracts in 1972 during the Bangladesh war, which took him to Yangon, then to Karachi and eventually Islamabad; his meeting with Pakistan premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1975; and his "secret mission" with Laldenga to Beijing, where the duo met Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, are all heady stuff.

The "Mizo Uprising" became so fierce that the Centre had to order IAF airstrikes. Eventually, Laldenga and Zoramthanga joined the peace process and in 1986, the Mizo Accord was signed, paving the way for the creation of Mizoram in 1987.

This eventful life as a rebel leader and peace negotiator, no doubt, is the reason why Zoramthanga, a graduate of English literature and lover of badminton, chose to pen his memoir 'MILARI' in Mizo. The book, which is yet to be released, talks about how Pakistan and China helped the Mizos during Mizo Insurgency (1966-1986).

From the looks of it, it has all the ingredients of a bestseller. This daringness — being unafraid to mine his controversial past for a book — also reveals itself in his utterances and interventions in his role as the chief minister of Mizoram, as the state is licked by the flames that are ravaging neighbouring Manipur.

And plain-speaking seems to be baked into his DNA. Last month, addressing party workers, the 79-year-old said, "The MNF is part of the NDA but we don't subscribe to all their policies. We are not scared of the BJP." This, in the times we live in, is akin to committing political hara-kiri. But this was quintessential Zoramthanga.

This bold assertion, according to a former journalist in Aizawl, was aimed at Christian Mizos in his state as polls are nearing, revealing the tactful politician in him.

He also openly disagreed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and refused to repatriate Myanmar nationals who fled the country into the state after the junta captured power over there. “Not acceptable,” said the CM then to Modi in a strongly worded letter, explaining that Chin refugees from Myanmar "ethnically are our Mizo brethren."

Taking a tough and calculated stand during crises confronting Mizos is a quality that has endeared him to the masses; and the corruption allegations — disproportionate assets, supplying fencing materials of agriculture department to a private firm owned by him and others — have not stopped him from being the undisputed MNF leader that he is today.

Mizo unity and fight against drug abuse and alcoholism were at the core of his two terms as the CM between 1998 and 2008, and remained so even in his third term that began in November 2018.

Wading into Manipur 

His recent remarks concerning the ethnic violence in Manipur have again thrust him into the spotlight. More than 150 people, mostly Kukis, have been killed in Manipur in the three-month-long violence. And Zoramthanga was quick to wade into troubled waters.

This time, however, did not confine himself to humanitarian assistance. The MNF is an ally of the BJP-led NDA, but Zoramthanga slammed his Manipur counterpart, N Biren Singh, saying he can't keep quiet as the victims "are my kith and kin". 

"The wound is very deep and it will be very difficult to heal," the CM said.

The needling made Singh angry. "Don't interfere in the matters of another state," he retorted.

Parallel to his efforts to act as a "mediator" to avoid further violence, Zoramthanga has supported the demand by Kuki groups for a "separate administration" and the calls for "unification" of the Kuki-Mizo-Zomi communities living in Manipur, Mizoram and Assam.

"He can't remain a silent spectator as the Chin-Kuki-Mizo are linguistically, culturally and ethnically of same group," said Sominthang Doungel, a Kuki intellectual, who is part of the committee demanding a "separate administration" for the Kukis.

"The fact that clubbing the areas inhabited by Kukis with Manipur was and is a historical mistake has been reinforced by the barbaric acts of the dominant Meiteis in recent times. This historical error must be corrected by creating a separate administration in the form of either a state or a new UT or merger with Mizoram for lasting security and peace," Doungel said.

Several eyes are now on Zoramthanga, who is being accused of playing with fire in Manipur by some Meitei groups, on what role he might play to douse the ethnic firestorm. If the ex-guerrilla can pull a rabbit out of the hat here, it can become an addendum in the next print run of his memoir.