Mizoram battle: MNF, Congress look at history for poll points

AIZAWL: The battle for Mizoram is a fight for legacy. The two major contenders - Congress and Mizo National Front (MNF) - find themselves either obviating or amplifying the history of the statehood movement.

"MNF is not just a political party. It is a movement," says the 74-year-old MNF president Zoramthanga, who was second-in-command to Laldenga, who led the two-decade-long Mizo movement for statehood.

The MNF's origins go back to a famine that gripped the Lushai Hills. Every 48 years, flowering of the bamboo plants leads to a proliferation of rats that destroy crops and cause a famine. The phenomenon is called 'mautam' and the one that hit Mizoram in 1959 was particularly severe. The administration of Mizoram, what was then Lushai Hills District Council, had sought Rs 1.5 lakh to tide over the crisis - a demand the Assam government rejected, calling mautam a "tribal superstition". Outraged, Laldenga led a movement against the government's "indifference" and formed the Mizo National Famine Front, which would later become the MNF, in 1961.

"MNF is Mizoram's national party. It fought for the independence of Mizoram. People will never forget that," says Ricky Lalbiakmawia, senior leader of the powerful Mizo Zirlai Pawl (Mizo Students' Association).