GUWAHATI: Former rebel leader-turned-politician Zoramthanga fired from the hip and eliminated the ruling Congress in Mizoram, the grand old party’s last bastion in the Northeast.
In the run-up to the polls, political pundits and pollsters gave the Mizo National Front (MNF) only an edge but its chief Zoramthanga, who is well-versed in his guerilla tactics, ambushed the Congress. The credit goes to him as he stood up against the government and the Congress and worked his way to a spectacular landslide victory. The chief minister-in-waiting is known to be a master in the art of war whether against armed opponents or political one.
Born in 1944, Zoramthanga had served as the Mizoram CM from 1998-2008. He was second in command to Laldenga, the pioneering leader of Mizo insurgency movement who was the MNF chief, during the secession movement.
When the movement started in 1966, Zoramthanga joined it and moved to the jungle. Laldenga engaged him as his secretary and he held the post for seven years. In 1979, he went on to don the mantle of MNF vice chief. After Mizoram attained statehood, Zoramthanga was made a minister in the state’s interim government in 1987.
In 1990, when Laldenga died, Zoramthanga was entrusted with the task of heading the MNF. The party had won the 1998 and 2003 polls with Zoramthanga becoming the CM. However, it lost the two subsequent elections to the Congress.
Zoramthanga was very optimistic about this year’s elections. Ahead of the polls, he had told The New Indian Express: “There are only two main players in Mizoram’s political arena – Congress and MNF. When the Congress is crumbling, there is no alternative to the voters other than the MNF”.
“If we form the government, we will try to put the Christian values, which are not against the Constitution, in place. We cannot make a theocratic government. The social values will be incorporated and implemented,” he had said.
His other promises were the improvement of infrastructure, particularly the roads, and re-enforcing total prohibition.