Indira Gandhi’s guard fights to unseat Cong in Mizoram

In 1982, Lalduhoma’s performance as an IPS officer led the union home ministry to transfer him from Guwahati to New Delhi as security in-charge of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, for nearly three years.

His organizational skills and sensitivity to people perhaps prompted late Gandhi to bring him into politics and Congress in Mizoram.

Over 34-years down the line, 69-year-old Lalduhoma, the chief ministerial candidate of Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), a forum of at least six regional parties in Mizoram is all geared to fight the ruling Congress and unseat the chief minister and his former party colleague Lal Thanhawla. Lalduhoma now leads Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP), which he formed after leaving Congress in 1986.

“My fight is against Congress. We are fighting alone and we are going to form our government. People’s love for us this time is tremendous. Youths, women, churches, NGOs and civil societies—all are in our favour for the first in this election,” the former 1977 batch IPS officer said. He was instrumental in bringing Laldenga, the leader of the violent Mizo uprising from London and also facilitated the Mizo Peace Accord, which was signed in 1986 during former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

He served as president of Mizoram Congress unit and was elected to the Lok Sabha uncontested in 1984 as a Congress candidate but left the party two years later following his conflict with Lal Thanhawla.He later formed the Mizo National Union, which was later merged with the Mizoram Peoples Conference, another party. Later he joined the Mizo National Front but soon broke away to form the ZNP. He became MLA twice in 2003 and in 2008 as ZNP candidate.

A resident of Chawlhhmun Veng here, Lalduhoma wants to declare Aizawl as a city of churches if ZPM comes to power and he becomes the chief minister.

“It would be a people's government,” he said when asked about the kind of government he wishes for. “Good governance through political change is crucial to lead a country to prosperity. We should learn from Japan, Singapore and Spain, small countries which despite a lack of resources, became economic powers simply because of their good leaders and diligence of the citizens,” he said, soon after he was named ZPM’s chief ministerial candidate on November 9.