New Frontier

A visit to Mizoram must be especially gratifying for Sonia Gandhi — both personally and politically. Her first visit to the state coincided with the peace accord that her husband and former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, signed with the Mizo rebel leader, Laldenga, in 1986.

And except for a brief period soon after the Mizo peace agreement, the Congress has ruled the state.

Ms Gandhi has good reasons to be happy about the party’s progress in a troubled periphery of India. More important, Mizoram remains the most peaceful state in the Northeast, completely free from ethnic insurgencies that plague all other states in the region.

Yet, it is not so much the Congress’s electoral successes in Mizoram as the triumph of peace that makes the state’s recent political history particularly significant. For two decades, the Mizo insurgency seemed intractable and its social and economic damage almost irreversible.

Two generations of Mizo youths lived and died in dense jungles fighting for an “independent” Mizoram. Peace and democracy have scripted a different story for the state since 1986. Mizoram today has the highest literacy rate among the states in the region. Its economic progress and social stability stand out in a region known for ethnic violence and volatile politics.

It is not as if the people of Mizoram do not have grievances against their government. Corruption, in particular, has been a major cause of public discontent. The chief minister, Lalthanhawla, has been synonymous with the Congress in the state for more than two decades.

He may legitimately take credit for the party’s successes. But he cannot also absolve himself of the charges that are routinely leveled against his party and government. For Ms Gandhi and the Centre, though, peace in Mizoram can serve a far more important purpose.

It can act as a guide to peace initiatives in Nagaland, Assam and Manipur. The insurgency in each of these states has its distinct local context. But the big message from Mizoram is that peace and democracy can help the people in ways that armed conflicts never can.

Democracy has enough room for dissent and gives the people the freedom to change a non-performing government.

Armed rebellions, on the other hand, offer no such hopes. Worse, gun-wielding militants steal all freedoms and rule by blood and terror.

Via Editorial of The Telegraph India