Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga has announced that he will not share the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the state for the upcoming assembly elections. He said that the BJP is anti-Christian and that aligning with it would hurt his party’s prospects.
Zoramthanga made these statements in an interview with BBC News on Monday, 23 October 2023. He said that the people of Mizoram are all Christians and that they are opposed to the BJP’s ideology and policies. He cited the example of church burning in BJP-ruled Manipur, where hundreds of churches were torched by Meitei extremists in 2022.
“It will be better if the prime minister comes alone and he shares the platform by himself, and I take the stage separately by myself,” Zoramthanga said.
Zoramthanga’s party, the Mizo National Front (MNF), is a part of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) and an ally of the NDA at the Centre. However, the MNF does not have any electoral understanding with the BJP in Mizoram. Zoramthanga said that his party joined the NDA and NEDA as it is totally against the Congress, and does not want to be part of any alliance led by it.
The chief minister also defended his government’s decision to provide shelter to refugees from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Manipur, who are living in camps in Mizoram. He said that his government was following the footsteps of the Centre, which had helped the refugees from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during the 1971 war. He said that his government was not arming the refugees, but only providing them food and shelter on humanitarian grounds.
He said that it was the responsibility of the Centre to restore peace in Manipur so that people can go back to their native state. He also urged the Centre to resolve the border disputes between Mizoram and Assam, which have led to violent clashes in recent years.
Mizoram will go to polls for its 40-member assembly on November 7, and the results will be declared on December 3. The MNF is hoping to retain power in the state, while the Congress and the BJP are trying to make inroads.
