AIZAWL, May 30: With the Lok
Sabha elections over, the Zoram
People’s Movement today pulled out
of the electoral alliance with the
Congress with an apology to ZPM
supporters across Mizoram who had
disliked the tie-up.
ZPM chairman Lalliansawta told
reporters here today that the main
reason behind the ZPM forging an
electoral alliance with the Congress
was the Hindutva agenda that posed a
serious threat to Christians in India.
“As the BJP leaders made it clear that they would renew the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and introduce
the Uniform Civil Code if their party
was elected to power, the foundation
of Christianity in India was shaken.
The ruling party in Mizoram, which
was expected to confront the threats,
expressed its allegiance to the BJPled NDA. In such a situation, there
was public pressure on the Opposition parties in Mizoram to unite and
take on the saffron force,” he said.
“The terms of agreement were
made within a short time with no written agreement whatsoever. There
were undoubtedly shortcomings in
the electoral alliance as we learnt that
some Opposition parties, which were
interested in an all-Opposition alliance,
were not included,” he said.
“We had agreed to forge an alliance
as the Congress was willing to put
aside its symbol and agreed to use a
common symbol. The Congress, being a well-established party, bore most
of the campaign expenses and we were
deeply thankful to them. We also apologise to our supporters across Mizoram who wanted us to contest the elections single-handedly and who disapproved of our being part of an alliance
with the Congress,” Lalliansawta said.
Now that the ZPM-Congress alliance lost the Lok Sabha seat to the
Mizo National Front, the ZPM will remain a single party and contest future
elections on its own with the objectives of forming a non-Congress and
non-MNF Government in the State
and local bodies, Lalliansawta said.
PRISM was supposed to be a part
of the electoral alliance, but was
dropped in the last minute, he said.
The PRISM candidate, TBC Lalvenhima, garnered 13,323 votes.
ZPM-Congress candidate Lalnghinglova Hmar lost to MNF candidate C Lalrosanga by 8,240 votes.
~Assam Tribune
~Assam Tribune
Post a Comment