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Pastor Politics

The Church is telling political parties how to fight the assembly polls, reports TERESA REHMAN

Holy orders Will Chief Minister Pu Zoramthanga listen to the church?
Photos: UB PHOTOS

THERE WILL be a touch of the ‘divine’ in the Mizoram assembly polls this year. A powerful moral watchdog, the Mizoram Peoples’ Forum (MPF) — sponsored by the Mizoram Presbyterian Church Synod — will set up offices in every village to monitor the elections. The MPF is present at the constituency, district and the state levels and has its headquarters at Aizawl.

Mizoram votes on December 2 to elect the 60-member state assembly. A triangular fight is expected between the ruling Mizo National Front; the main Opposition party which is the Congress; and the newly-formed United Democratic Alliance (UDA). The eligible voters number six lakh. More than 91 percent have Photo Identity Cards.

“Our main aim is to ensure that free and fair elections are held. We are working very hard to convince people not to accept gifts from candidates,” Rev Lalbiakmawia, executive secretary of the Synod, told TEHELKA. They have asked candidates to spend little, not hold ‘community feasts’, and abide by the Election Commission’s code of conduct. “If they spend less money now, they will be clean in the future. If they spend recklessly, we will urge the people not to vote for that particular candidate,” he added.

Another MPF guideline is that the political parties cannot hold separate public meetings, and that all meetings will be supervised by the MPF. “The MPF will convene meetings in community halls where candidates can speak. We want to ensure that nothing untoward takes place and that nobody breaks the rules,” adds Rev Lalbiakmawia.

Indeed, the Synod has asked candidates to also eschew door-to-door campaigns. “Candidates might bribe voters or give them things like rice or medicines,” he reasons.

The church was instrumental in advocating total prohibition in Mizoram and the state is now dry, following the Mizoram Liquor Total Prohibition (Amendment) Act in 2007.

MARGARET CH ZAMA, professor, Department of English, Mizoram University, feels that the Synod has considerable influence as about 65 percent of the population that falls under it. “It is difficult to set a yardstick for a morally upright candidate. A regular church-goer can also be corrupt,” she says.

But, she says, Mizos are “politically educated” and cannot be easily swayed. “Mizos don’t just blindly follow people. They vote for people who have proven to be great leaders,” she says. This is not surprising, considering that Mizoram has a literacy rate of 90.27 percent, second only to Kerala’s 90.90 percent.

But what will the MPF or the Synod do if people don’t adhere to their guidelines? “We know the common people are pious and will abide by any guideline of the church. We can only urge them to lead a moral life. We do not want to interfere in the elections but only want to facilitate the process,” says an MPF official.

Moreover, the MPF rejects any kind of affiliation with any political party. The MPF hopes that the common people will be able to differentiate between the good and the bad, and expects all political parties to adhere to their directives. Says Rev Lalbiakmawia: “We can only pray that the best candidate wins.” Amen.

WRITER’S EMAIL:
teresa@tehelka.com