BJP hell-bent on destroying Mizo culture: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday appealed to people in Mizoram to vote for his party, saying while the Congress had helped bring peace and stability in the state, the BJP and the RSS were «hell-bent on destroying» Mizo culture and way of life. The Congress stands for the protection of the northeastern state's people, land and natural resources as enshrined under Article 371-G of the Constitution, he asserted ahead of the November 7 assembly polls.
The Article is a special provision for Mizoram. It states that no central law relating to religious or social practices, customary law and procedure, and ownership and transfer of land will be applicable unless the Mizoram assembly ratifies the same.
Kharge also listed out the Congress' seven guarantees for Mizoram, which include creation of job opportunities, strengthening democracy at the grassroots, health insurance cover of Rs 15 lakh and special care of cancer patients, monthly old age pension of Rs 2,000, providing subsidised LPG cylinder at Rs 750, and Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to widows and the disabled.
The Congress is seeking to oust the MNF-BJP coalition from power in the state.
«It is the Congress party which brought peace and stability in Mizoram,» Kharge said in a video message and post on X, adding that former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had signed the historic Mizo accord in 1986 and secured statehood in 1987.
Since then, the Congress has had a very special relationship with the people of Mizoram, he said.
«Successive Congress governments have ensured peace, stability, tribal culture, identity and secularism in Mizoram. We brought the New Land Use Policy (NLUP) for agriculture, which has benefitted farmers and substantially increased rice
