BJP eyes Christian-majority Mizoram post-success in its neighbourhood

The BJP’s seriousness about Mizoram was known when it sent Union Minister Kiren Rijiju to campaign for Lai Autonomous District Council (LADC) election, scheduled for December 4.
BJP has just one MLA in the state’s 40-member Assembly. (Photo | EPS)
BJP has just one MLA in the state’s 40-member Assembly. (Photo | EPS)

GUWAHATI: In Christian-majority Mizoram, the BJP is trying to grow from scratch.

The land-locked Mizoram remains the only state in the Northeast where the BJP is yet to have a firm footing. The party has just one MLA in the state’s 40-member Assembly.

The BJP’s seriousness about Mizoram was known when it sent Union Minister Kiren Rijiju to campaign for the less-important Lai Autonomous District Council (LADC) election, scheduled for December 4. The council has 25 seats.

Addressing a meeting at Sangau in Lawngtlai district on Wednesday, Rijiju had said the BJP was giving equal importance to every election.

“We are serious about every election, be it a rural or local body election or state or general election,” Rijiju had asserted, adding “We will go all-out to win the LADC polls”.

Former Nagaland Minister Mmhonlumo Kikon, who is BJP’s Mizoram in-charge, echoed Rijiju.

“Every election is important for a party because you cannot win at the top without winning at the bottom. Mizoram is a very important state for us. So, the party leadership thought the best person to campaign would be Rijiju. He has been to this state in the past,” Kikon told The New Indian Express.

He added: “We don’t have a presence in Mizoram as we have just one MLA”.

Mizoram has two other similar councils – Mara Autonomous District Council and Chakma Autonomous District Council.

The BJP is in power in Assam, Manipur, Tripura, and Arunachal Pradesh. The party is also a constituent in the coalition governments of Nagaland and Meghalaya. For the party, victory in Assam in the 2016 elections had opened the gateway to the Northeast.

Even now, as the four districts of Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) get set for the December election to the autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council in Assam, the BJP, led by Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has launched an aggressive campaign to leave a mark in BTR where the party is yet to have a foothold.

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