Guwahati: Zoramthanga, Chief Minister of Mizoram and a BJP ally at the Centre has said he will not share the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi if he visits the poll-bound state.
The decision comes in the wake of the recent violence in neighbouring Manipur, which has pitted the largely Hindu Meiteis against the Kuki-Zo, a Christian community that shares the same ancestry as the Mizos.
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Zoramthanga told BBC News that he believes the people of Mizoram will be unhappy if he is seen to be supporting the BJP at this time, given the party’s role in the Manipur violence. He said he would be happy to meet Modi separately, but that he would not share a stage with him.
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The MNF is part of the NDA at the Centre, but it has no truck with the BJP in Mizoram. The BJP is an Opposition party in the state, and it is scheduled to hold a rally on October 30.
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The Manipur violence is likely to have an impact on the upcoming Mizoram polls. Over 87 per cent of Mizoram’s population is Christian.
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Zoramthanga also said that his government’s decision to provide relief to refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh, and to the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Manipur, would benefit the ruling MNF in the elections. He said that the refugees and IDPs are all Mizos and that they wield a lot of influence in the state.
The upcoming Assembly elections in Mizoram will be a three-cornered fight between the MNF, the Opposition Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) and the Congress. The BJP is expected to be influential in a few pockets, but it is not seen as a major contender.