New Delhi: In 1984, Lalduhoma, then a young IPS officer, found himself fielding an unusual request. Then prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi, wanted Lalduhoma, the former in-charge of her security detail, to quit the civil services and handle a major task — opening peace negotiations with Laldenga, head of the then insurgent outfit, the Mizo National Front (MNF).
Lalduhoma heeded the request — he quit the civil service, which he had joined in 1977, joined the Congress, and flew to London, where Laldenga was stationed. He then managed to bring the militant leader back to India, paving the way for a historic peace accord that would bring down the curtains on the insurgency and bring the MNF to mainstream politics.
Cut to 2023, the former police officer is yet again on the verge of scripting history, with the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), the political party he now leads, set to form government in Mizoram.
The ZPM dislodged the MNF, led by incumbent chief minister Zoramthanga — a former militant leader who was a key figure in the rebellion that Lalduhoma had helped contain.
“The MNF has lost its regional identity by joining the National Democratic Alliance and the North-East Democratic Alliance (both alliances led by the BJP). It has diluted its essence,” Lalduhoma told ThePrint over the telephone Sunday — a day before Mizoram’s results were announced.
“My party (ZPM) is the only genuine regional party in Mizoram. We are a regional party with a national outlook and I’m not going to join any political platform at the national level.”
He wants to maintain the party’s independent existence, he said. “I would like to keep our own identity. We don’t want to be dictated from Delhi,” he added.
Lalduhoma also dismissed suggestions that the ZPM could fall short of the halfway mark, necessitating the support of either the Congress or the BJP to form the government. “No such situation will arise. We won’t need any support,” he said.
He was proven right. The ZPM won 27 of Mizoram’s 40 assembly seats, with the MNF’s tally reduced to 10. Meanwhile, the two national parties, the BJP and the Congress — the latter of which was a dominant force in the Christian-majority hill state until 2018 — are trailing far behind with two and one seats, respectively.
“The MNF was like a sinking ship as its rank and file witnessed an exodus,” Lalduhoma said. “Many of them joined us.”
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On Mizo peace accord and his differences with the Congress
Since it became a state in 1987 (it was a Union territory from 1972-1986), Mizoram has only had Congress and MNF governments. In 2018, the BJP, until then a minor player in the state, won its first assembly seat. But Lalduhoma dismisses both national parties as irrelevant forces.
His political career also saw him become the first Member of Parliament to be disqualified under the anti-defection law, in 1988.
“I was made the Congress president in the state in 1984. As part of our negotiations with Laldenga, it was agreed that we would vacate our (legislature) seats if the (peace) deal goes through. But the then CM (Congress’ Lal Thanhawla) kept dragging his feet. Negotiations were very smooth in the beginning but the dilly-dallying of the CM (eventually) complicated matters,” he told ThePrint.
He said he realised he could not remain silent. “I realised that if I remain silent, there will be a cessation of ceasefire and fighting will start again. I wanted to set myself free and tell the truth to the people of Mizoram, which I did. We launched a major agitation,” he said.
In 1986, then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi signed the historic peace accord with Laldenga.
“The peace accord was actually signed under pressure from the people. We surrounded the state secretariat for four days and four nights. I left the Congress in 1986. I was to be disqualified very soon. I knew that would be my fate. It finally happened in 1988,” Lalduhoma said.
In 2020, he also became the first MLA from Mizoram to be disqualified under the anti-defection law. This came after he was found serving as the president of ZPM — a party registered in 2019 — despite being in the assembly as an Independent.
How does he feel about Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a party with which the ZPM is often compared? Like the AAP — which also contested the Mizoram assembly election — the ZPM also captured the popular imagination by projecting itself as an “outsider” to politics.
Lalduhoma is amused at the comparison. “I’m a close friend of (Delhi CM and AAP chief) Arvind Kejriwal. A few years ago, we made a speech at a public rally of Opposition parties in Kolkata. It was organised by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who was my batchmate in Parliament,” he told ThePrint.
He said that while the ZPM had many similarities with the principles and policies of the AAP, the parties contested the polls against each other. “They fought separately,” he added.
On ideological leanings, MNF and relationship with Indira
So where does the ZPM stand on the ideological spectrum? “Neither Left nor Right,” Lalduhoma said.
“We are secular, of course, one has to be secular in this country. One has to be judged not by their statements, but by their actions,” he added.
According to him, the outgoing MNF lost ground due to its “duplicity”, especially on issues such as the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Enacted by Parliament in 2019, the law, which offers citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, has been controversial in northeastern states, which fear a demographic change.
Lalduhoma said, notwithstanding its public pronouncements against the CAA, the MNF supported the legislation in Parliament. He added that MNF MP Lalsaronga had even voted for the bill in the Lok Sabha citing the central government’s promise to keep Mizoram outside its purview.
He also cited other instances — such as the Opposition’s no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the monsoon session of Parliament over the Manipur violence.
“Recently, during the no-confidence motion, the MNF was against the motion when all the Opposition MPs walked out from the House in its favour. The MP of Mizoram remained seated with the BJP,” Lalduhoma said.
However, despite his criticism of the MNF’s alliance with the BJP, the ZPM president said his party would not adopt a “confrontational approach” towards the Narendra Modi government.
“We want to have good cooperation with whoever is in power at the Centre,” he said.
Of his days with Indira Gandhi, he has vivid memories.
Laldenga has previously said he was scheduled to meet the former prime minister on 31 October 1984 — the day she was assassinated by her bodyguards.
“I remember that every day, early in the morning, I had to go to the residence of the PM. I had my own office there,” he said. “I accompanied her on the morning darshan, when she used to meet people. After breakfast, she would head to the office and I remained with her throughout the day, including at her official engagements. I still have those memories.”
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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