AIZAWL: The spotlight is on the drug menace as Mizoram braces for the November 7 Assembly elections. The BJP on Friday promised a drug-free Mizoram if voted to power in the landlocked state. The BJP won just one seat in the 2018 elections and is trying hard to leave a footprint in the state this election. It is contesting 23 of the state’s 40 seats.
Releasing the election manifesto, BJP chief JP Nadda said the party would launch “operation drug-free Mizoram” to curb addiction among the state’s youth. The drug menace has assumed serious proportions in Mizoram. According to the state’s Excise and Narcotics Department, drugs killed 1,794 people since 1984. The figure this year stands at 58.
Drugs, manufactured in Myanmar, are often smuggled into India through the porous international border. Mizoram as well as Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh shares a border with the neighbouring country. During his recent visit to the state, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had attacked the Zoramthanga government on many issues including drugs. “Drugs are reaching across the state to destroy our youth,” he had said. The BJP made a series of promises to woo voters, particularly women, considering that they outnumber their male counterparts.
The party promised 33% reservation for women in all government jobs, free quality education to all girl students from the level of kindergarten to post-graduation, and free Scooty to meritorious class 12 girl students. Mizoram has been for years embroiled in a bitter border dispute with Assam, and Nadda promised that the BJP would try to resolve it by collaborating with the Central and Assam governments.
“We will provide employment and self-employment opportunities to at least one member of every household and double the per-family annual health insurance from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh under Ayushman Bharat,” the BJP president said.