Mizoram
(2001 est. pop. 891,000). A state in northeastern India established in 1987, Mizoram ("land of the highlanders") extends southward to cover an area of 21,081 square kilometers, squeezed between Bangladesh and Myanmar (Burma) and bounded by Tripura, Manipur, and Assam. It was organized to meet the aspirations of the Mizo (Lushai) people, whose secessionist insurgency was not quelled with status as a union territory beginning in 1972.
The Mizos are an egalitarian people without gender or class distinctions, proud of Tlawmgaihna, their code of hospitality. The Mizos migrated to this region in the eighteenth century from the Chin hills in Myanmar. The British brought the area under their control in 1891. Almost 95 percent of the people are Christian; whitewashed Christian churches cross the landscape. Only a few animists remain, along with some Buddhists.
When Mizoram's main species of bamboo bloom, they attract hordes of rats that devour crops and bring famine. In 1959 apparent government disregard of this natural crisis called mautam sparked the Mizo Famine Front, which became the Mizo National Front (MNF). For some twenty years, the MNF functioned as an armed guerrilla group fighting for secession and independence from an Indian administration viewed as inept and uncaring. In 1967 the government's heavy-handed response to the MNF—rounding up Mizos into guarded villages—only boosted support for the MNF and propelled secessionist fervor that led to statehood. The years following Mizoram statehood in 1987 have been peaceful.
Further Reading
Nag, Chitta Ranjan. (1999) Post-Colonial Mizo Politics, 1947– 1998. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House.
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