MNF president sworn in as Mizoram CM
Former top insurgent leader and Mizo National Front (MNF) president Zoramthanga , who won the recent assembly poll on the promise of a complete ban on liquor, was sworn in yesterday as Mizoram's new chief minister heading a 12-member ministry.
Zoramthanga, 74, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor K Rajasekharan during a ceremony at Raj Bhavan in Aizawl, the capital city of Mizoram.
He took oath in Mizo language. This is his third stint as chief minister of the state, having led the MNF government in Mizoram in 1998 and 2003.
Along with Zoramthanga, 11 others -- five cabinet ministers and six ministers of state -- were also sworn in.
Chairman of Mizoram Kohhran Hruaitute Committee (MKHC), a conglomerate of 16 major churches in the state, Rev R Lalhmingthanga, read out from the Bible and offered prayers during the ceremony.
The MNF came to power toppling the decade-long rule of the Congress party in Mizoram after capturing 26 of the 40 seats in the state assembly elections.
The main election plank of Zoramthanga this time in the Christian-majority state was the ban on liquor which he claimed in an interview has killed 6,000 people, including 500 policemen, in Mizoram in the last three years.
Zoramthanga was associated with the militant outfit MNF under the leadership of Laldenga in 1960s and 1970s. The Mizo insurgency ended in 1986 with the signing of the peace deal between Rajiv Gandhi and Laldenga. When Mizoram was born as a state in 1987, MNF became an over-ground political party.
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