Two political parties had been ruling the roost in Mizoram one after the other  for ten years each since 1989 after the then underground insurgent Mizo National Front signed a peace agreement with the Government of India in June 1986 and formed the government for a little over two short years. The Indian National Congress, known as Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee, came to power after this and ruled over the state for ten long years - a continuous two-year term - much to the chagrin of the people who saw little progress towards the alleviation of their poverty under the Congress regime. In 1998-end, when Assembly elections were conducted, the Congress was on the receiving end of the stick with the people giving the Mizo National Front its blessings to lead the state and the Congress only five seats out of the state’s 40 Assembly seats. The MNF managed to rule over the state for two more terms – which appeared to be much longer than the Congress rule since the MNF had not proved to be the savior of the people as believed – without much change in policies towards the empowerment of the people financially and economically than those from the Congress party. The result is a deep anti-incumbency feeling in the masses, including government employees, without much choice about who replaces the MNF since the other two local parties in the state, Mizoram People’s Conference (MPC) party and the Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP), have not inspired much confidence in spite of their coming together under the umbrella of the United Democratic Party for the 2008 Assembly elections a few months ago.

MPC had been a driving force towards progress and development during the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s under retired army officer Brig T. Sailo who came to the political fore with his fight for human rights in insurgency- and rights violation-torn Mizoram in the early- to mid-1970s. His organization, then simply called People’s Conference, was forced to convert itself into a political party by the people because of the need to fight for people’s rights through a political platform. While the MPC had been a popular party during its heydays in the mid-1970s to mid-1980s, it is now a declining political entity with the retired-now-below-par octogenarian T. Sailo forced to take up active politics to revive the party in 2007. As for the ZNP, it was formed by a former IPS officer Lalduhoma who had been president of both the Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee and the Mizo National Front parties and have since formed new political parties of which ZNP happens to be the third one. Although his personal capability as a politician is not under question, the people have been wondering as to his ability to administer the state since he has not been able to remain satisfied with a single party whether or not that party is an already established one or a new party formed by him. One of the factors that have undermined the ZNP is the fact that with Lalduhoma announcing that his party would form no alliance with any other political party and would contest the elections singlehandedly, a political alliance was formed with the MPC and another non-political organization called Zoram Kuthnathawktu Pawl (Zoram Labourers’ Organization) to establish the United Democratic Alliance for the 2008 Assembly elections within a few short weeks after the announcement.

In the present political scenario, it appears that no single or united political party has emerged as the clear winner despite the various attempts to woo the people with new and in some cases revamped old policies to alleviate the fast rising poverty tide that is slowly over running the state. The ruling MNF, after failing miserably to alleviate farmers’ plights through its Mizoram Intodelhna Programme and the Bamboo Flowering and Famine Combat Scheme - known popularly as Baffacos – to bring relief to farmers during the famine brought about by rodents and other pests because of the 49-cyclic bamboo generation process that sees bamboos flowering which attract rodents and pests who in the end bring devastation to other crops, is trying to cash in on the development progress made in the state during the last ten years but the people do not appear to be fooled by the propagandistic campaigns. The MPCC is banking heavily on its revamped New Land Use Policy or NLUP which it had implemented during the latter years of its second term in office in the 1990s to some success to court the people. It is now offering one lakh rupees and above as loan-free capital to promote any viable project that would bring sustainable livelihood to a family who may be living in a rural or urban area. This appears to have captured the imagination of cash-strapped rural people who have been longing to get their financial feet on firmer grounds for 20 long years.

Under the UDA, MPC is promising the people adequate electric power through its pet project of hydro-electric power and the ZNP enough money in the budget to purchase farmers’ crops if no open market is found for them. Both these two parties are also promising a corruption-free government where favouritism and nepotism would have no place. Adequate power is nothing new with the MPC while enough budgetary allocation for local crop purchase had always been the main policy of ZNP.

Political observers are currently reserving their opinions on how the Mizoram polls will turn out because of two reasons. One is the fact that the state will go to the Assembly polls according to the new delimited constituencies which has altered all the 40 constituency boundaries in the state bringing about chaos for a base-line on the voting pattern of the constituencies. This has made calculations difficult to judge how a political party will fare and the difficulty has not fallen on political observers alone but on the potential candidates as well since most election results are based on the demographical and geographical map of a constituency. The other reason for the political observers’ dilemma is the lack of any waves being made by a political party on any particular issue. The general political issue appears to be lack of good governance which has spawned rampant corruption and each party, except for the ruling MNF, is on a race to ride on this boat without any party having a head start. While the UDA on the merit of the MPC’s corrupt practices having been forgotten by the public and the ZNP not having had a chance to rule in the state could have a slight advantage on the good governance issue, their problem is that the people have no real faith that the UDA could win the elections. As for the MPCC, the people still remember their ten-year rule as a Congress dictatorship with matters not being helped by the fact that the MPCC president Lalthanhawla currently having a corruption court case against him. But to give the Congress some credit, it being an established national party could be slowly working towards its favour despite the current reservations people have for it. Government intelligence networks appear to have the same view too from the guarded answers given by them to carefully worded questions.

BJP and Lok Janshakti Party have also announced their intention to contest the Mizoram Assembly elections but they have no real chance because of lack of any vote base in the state. These two parties are unlikely to make their presence felt in the polls in this pre-dominantly Christian state.

David M. Thangliana