Union minister for earth sciences Kiren Rijiju, who is the Bharatiya Janata Party in-charge for poll-bound Mizoram, feels that the saffron party needs to be part of the government in the northeastern state for its all-round development.
Since 2016, the BJP has made major strides in the North-East. The party is heading governments in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura, and is part of the ruling coalition in Nagaland and Meghalaya. Mizoram, where it opened its account in 2018 winning one of the total 40 seats, is the only state where it is not in power.
“It is pertinent to have BJP as part of the government. We are very confident of winning double digits at the constituencies that we fielded our candidates. We are looking to work with all political parties (except Congress) because if BJP is not a part of the government, our ideas cannot translate to reality,” Rijiju, who represents Arunachal West in the Lok Sabha, said in an interview with HT.
In 2018, the BJP fielded 39 candidates and won one seat securing 8% of the total votes. This time, the party is contesting from 23 seats. Five years ago, Mizo National Front returned to power winning 26 seats, while Zoram Peoples’ Movement (ZPM), a new party, bagged eight seats. The Congress, which was in power, came third with five seats.
Though the MNF is part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Centre, and the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), the BJP-led regional platform of anti-Congress parties, MNF and the BJP don’t have any seat-sharing alliance or tie-up for the Mizoram polls.
Rijiju said that while the BJP is open to joining hands with any party except the Congress to form the next government in Mizoram, the party also doesn’t have any formal or informal association with the ZPM as yet.
“At Serchhip, BJP has fielded a candidate against ZPM supremo Lalduhoma but not against MNF chief Zoramthanga. This shows that we are respecting the incumbent party as they are part of the NDA. The ZPM is not an enemy to the BJP. All I know is that Lalduhoma is a retired IPS officer who had been part of various political parties,” he said.
The inion minister targeted senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who, during a recent visit to Mizoram, accused the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) of trying to attack the state’s religion (Mizoram is predominantly Christian), language and culture, and said that the MNF and the ZPM were acting as entry points for the saffron party.
“Rahul Gandhi does not understand politics. Even when he came to Mizoram, he spoke about issues not connected to Mizoram which only assured that he is a part time politician. He does not understand the real issues of a particular area,” said Rijiju.
“People of Mizoram require developments in terms of roads, services, transportation, electricity, better water supply. Yet, when Rahul was visiting the state, he focused on RSS and culture which were totally unconnected with Mizoram,” he added.
Rijiju said that in the last nine years, the North-East saw a transformation — with mega roads and bridges under construction, and multimodal roads and transport facilities initiated as part of the Centre’s Act East policy.
Mizoram is going to polls on November 7, and the results will be announced along with four other states on December 3.
Source: Hindustan Times
