Mizoram CM Lalduhoma’s Kuki-Zo Unity Speech in the US Sparks a Row

The Mizoram CM’s statement has suddenly triggered speculations on whether he was indeed backing the idea of a separate Kuki-Zo nation?

A section of the media including the social media has suddenly picked up a seemingly controversial statement that Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma made on Kuki-Zo unity and nationhood during his visit to Indianapolis in the US in the month of September.

Addressing a gathering of the Zo diaspora in the United States on September 4th, 2024, Lalduhoma said, “The primary reason I accepted 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 to be divided or apart from one another. I want us to have the conviction and confidence that one day, through the strength of God, who made us a nation, we will rise together under one leadership to achieve our destiny of nationhood. While a country may have borders, a true nation transcends such limitations. We have been unjustly divided, forced to exist under three different governments in three different countries, and this is something we can never accept,”.

The Kuki-Zo ethnic group is spread over parts of India, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Lalduhoma has clearly invoked a shared cultural and religious identity, emphasizing that the Chin-Kuki-Zo people have a historical claim to be one nation despite the political boundaries that currently separate them. The Mizoram Chief Minister’s statement has suddenly triggered speculations on whether he was indeed backing the idea of a separate Kuki-Zo nation?

However, it also needs to be noted here is that in another event on the occasion of Mizo day at Maryland in the US, just 2 days prior to the Indianapolis address, Lalduhoma said that the main objective of the Zoro movement in 1988 was Zo-reunification within India. Lalduhoma further wondered whether the Zo people in India, Myanmar and Bangladesh today aspire to be reunited under India. Significantly, he added that looking at the geo-political realities of the times, it may not be far fetched to think this as a possibility some day. In other words, Lalduhoma here is hinting at a united Kuki-Zo homeland within India.

The issue of Kuki-Zo unity was a major election issue in Mizoram, however, the idea of a separate Kuki-Zo nation has generally not been discussed in public. Some see, Lalduhoma’s remarks in Indianapolis in the light of ousted Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina’s claim that a Western or US plot was underway to carve a new Christian country out of Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Moreover, Lalduhoma’s US speech is hogging limelight again at a when Manipur is heading back to normalcy after over 16 months of ethnic clash between the Meitei and the Kuki-Zo communities. It may be also noted that the Kuki-Zo groups in Manipur are seeking a separate administration with Union Territory status. On the whole, the big question that arises is whether there is a push for a Kuki-Zo homeland in the region?

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