Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma is facing criticism for his controversial statement made in the month of September in the United States. On Thursday, responding to the Mizoram Chief Minister's statement, Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh said that anyone attempting to challenge the unity and integrity of Manipur or India would receive a fitting response.
What did Lalduhoma say in US?
During his visit to the United States, on September 2 at a Mizo Day event in Maryland, Lalduhoma spoke about the idea of reunifying the Zo people living in India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.
"The main objective of the ZORO Movement in 1988 was Zo reunification within India. Can the Zo people in India, Burma [Myanmar], and Bangladesh today aspire to be reunited under India? Given the geopolitical realities of our time, it may not be so far-fetched to think that this could become a possibility one day," the Mizoram Chief Minister said in Maryland.
"Perhaps, fate has this reunification in store for us in the future. Also, I am not oblivious to the immense responsibility I bear in this regard, to contribute towards making this dream a reality. For now, I can only say that I eagerly await the day and time when the question I have posed above is answered," he added.
The above statements by the Mizoram Chief Minister were seen as non-controversial. However, in a second speech on September 4 in Indianapolis, he stated, "we cannot afford to have three enemies who are bigger than us," referring to India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, which has drawn criticism for Lalduhoma.
A clip of the Mizoram Chief Minister's speech has been widely shared on social media. In the viral clip, Lalduhoma appeared to reference the period when Mizoram had just become a state in 1987, following a violent insurgency, and the formation of the Zo Reunification Organisation (ZORO) a year later.
"As far as ZORO was concerned, the main policy was to achieve reunification within India. We cannot fight Myanmar, we cannot fight India, we cannot fight Bangladesh simultaneously. We cannot afford to have three enemies who are bigger than us," he said.
Zo people are forced to exist under three different governments in three different countries: Mizoram CM
The controversy centers around the closing remarks of Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma's speech on September 4 in Indianapolis. In his concluding comments, he stated: "As I near the end of my speech, I want everyone here to know that my primary reason for accepting the invitation to visit the United States is to seek a path towards unity for all of us. We are one people—brothers and sisters—and we cannot afford division or separation. I want us to believe, with conviction, that through God's strength, who made us a nation, we will rise together under one leadership to fulfill our destiny of nationhood. While a country may have borders, a true nation transcends those boundaries. We have been unfairly divided, forced to exist under three different governments in three different countries, and this is something we cannot accept."
MEA responds
In response, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, stated in today's weekly briefing that he has yet to review Lalduhoma's comments and will respond once more clarity is obtained. "We have had issues along the India-Myanmar border due to Myanmar's security situation," Jaiswal said. "We previously discussed border fencing and some other proposals, so I will come back to you once we have further clarity on the matter," he told reporters on Thursday.
