4.

Changing face of the Indian Democracy (1977 – 1986)

Syllabus

(i) The Janata Government (1977 – 1979).

Restoration of democracy: formation of party and government, its program and
implementation; reasons for its downfall.

(ii) Return of Congress to power (1979 – 1986).

Centre-State relations to be studied with reference to:
(a) Punjab: separatist demands and the Centre’s response.
(b) Demands in the North-East:

Assam’s agitation against foreigners and the Centre’s response (1947-85);

main events to be done in detail.
• Nagaland’s demand for autonomy and its resolution (1947-80); main events to be done
briefly.
• Mizoram Movement (1959-1986) to be touched upon.

The Janata Government 1977-1979

Bipan Chandra and Mukherjee: India Since Independence ch. 19 pp. 261-265
Ramachandra Guha: India after Gandhi ch. 23pp. 522-545

The Surprise Elections: 1977

On 18 January 1977, Mrs Gandhi suddenly announced - Lok Sabha elections to be held in
March. She also simultaneously released political prisoners, removed press censorship and
other restrictions on political activity such as holding of public meetings. Political parties
were allowed to campaign freely.

Why did Mrs. Gandhi announce and then hold open and free elections? After all she
had got parliament to postpone elections by one year only two months before in November
1976. There is up to now no satisfactory answer to the question, though there has been a
great deal of speculation. Firstly, the favorable view is that the decision was an expression
of Mrs. Gandhi’s underlying commitment to liberal democracy and democratic values.
Secondly, Mrs. Gandhi became aware of the Emergency excesses and realized that matters
were getting out of her control; she decided to get out of this trap by once holding elections
even if it meant losing power. Some scholars think that Mrs Gandhi completely misread the
popular temper and, and was convinced that she would win. Isolated from public opinion,
she was unaware of the extent to which her rule had become unpopular. By winning the
election she hoped to vindicate the Emergency and also clear the way for Sanjay Gandhi to
succeed her. Thirdly, she realized that the policies of the Emergency had to be legitimized
further through elections.
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The election of 1977 and the formation of the Janata Government (1977)

The Janata Party was formed by the merger of the following parties, immediately after
their leaders came out of detention: Congress (0), Jan Sangh, Bharatiya Lok Dal (BLD),
and the Socialist Party. Some dissident leaders of Congress also joined in. Support came
from the DMK, Akali Dal and CPM.
The main issue during the Campaign was the excesses carried out by the Congress during
the Emergency. The people also saw the election as a referendum on the Emergency. JP,
although in poor health, did his bit, campaigning against the Congress. When the results
were announced, the Janata Party and its allies got a huge majority of 330/542 seats in the
Lok Sabha, with the Congress getting only 154. The Congress was virtually wiped out in
North India, winning only 2 out of the 237 seats in this region. Even Mrs. Gandhi and
Sanjay Gandhi were defeated. In the South, however the Congress did well. The
emergency was not felt as fully as in the North, and the pro-poor legislation of the 20
Point programme was better implemented. Two groups in particular, seemed to have
deserted the Congress: the Scheduled Castes and the Muslims.

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The Janata Party had not fought the elections under a single leader. After the election,
therefore there was a tussle for the post of Prime Minister among the three heavyweight
leaders: Morarji Desai, Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram. Finally the issue was settled -
with JP's support - in favour of Morarji Desai. He had administrative experience and a
record of great honesty and integrity. However the policies of the new government were
not clear, as they represented, according, to Ramachandra Guha," a veritable mismatch of
ideologies."
Some of the earliest measures taken by the new government were:
1. Dismissing the opposition (in this case Congress) ruled state governments. In June
fresh elections were held to the state assemblies and the Janata and its allies did
well, particularly in the Hindi belt states of UP, MP, Rajasthan and Bihar. In West
Bengal the CPI (M), a Janata ally came to power (inaugurating 30 years of left
rule), and Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK came to power.

2. The Setting up of several commissions of enquiry into the excesses of the

Emergency. The most important was the Shah Commission headed by a retired
judge. Over the months it examined scores of witnesses from bureaucrats and
police officers to former ministers. But it failed to get Mrs. Gandhi to come before
it, and eventually people lost interest in it due to the prolonged nature of the
proceedings.
3. The Janata government then took measures to dismantle the authoritarian
measures of the Emergency. It restored civil rights and full liberties to the press,
political parties, and individuals. Through the 44th Amendment it modified the
42nd Amendment which had been passed during the Emergency repealing those
provisions which had distorted the Constitution. It tightened the conditions for
calling an internal emergency, and restored the power of judicial review.
4. The Janata Government implemented the Food for Work programme, which gave
employment in the rural areas by building roads bridges, and canals.

The Crisis of the Janata Party

The Janata Party soon began to suffer from the consequences of a lack of a unified socio-
economic programme, and infighting and a power struggle for leadership. By the end of
1977, political support for it began to decline, because, according to Dr Bipan Chandra of
its "non-performance in its administration, implementing developmental policies, and
realizing social justice." 'The Janata Party began to disintegrate, although it remained in
power until 1979.
According to Dr Bipan Chandra, there several reasons for the decline in support of the
Janata Party.
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1. The Janata Party was not able to manage the social tensions in the rural areas, as a
result of the rise of intermediate castes and the increasing assertiveness of the Dalits.
The social base of the Janata Party in the rural areas of North India consisted primarily
of rich and medium peasants of the intermediate castes (now called OBCs), and large
landowners belonging to the so-called forward castes. Its urban base was the lower
middle class, and small businessmen, such as shopkeepers etc. These groups now
began to flex their muscles in the rural areas on the other hand the Scheduled Castes
had also begun to assert their rights, emboldened by the functioning of democracy and
adult franchise. They began to asset their rights that they had benefitted from the 20
point Programme. The result was widespread inter- caste violence, culminating in the
Belchi outrage in May 1977, where a number of Dalits Were burnt alive by the upper
castes.
2. Violence and unrest Moreover there was a revival of communal violence between
Hindus and Muslims. Strikes and violence spread to the university campuses. Even
paramilitary forces and the police struck work, demanding higher wages and better
conditions.
3. According to Dr Bipan Chandra the economic policy of the Janata Party- small scale
industry, decentralization and subsidies to rich peasants made for very low economic
progress. After the first year of Janata rule, the economy both in the rural and urban
areas began to show signs of stagnation. Severe drought in some areas and flood in
others affected agricultural production in 1978-79. The Food for Work used up grain
stocks, and there were shortages of essential commodities. By the end of 1979,
inflation was beyond 20%.
4. The different ideologies of the Janata Party led to constant infighting amongst its
leaders, which by 1978 almost paralysed the government, both at the centre and in the
states. The different constituents were too disparate, and the only thing they had in
common was their anti-Mrs. Gandhi attitude.
The revival of the Congress
While the Janata Government was falling apart the Congress was beginning to recover, after
the electoral defeat in 1977.
1. The Belchi killings provided an opportunity for Mrs Gandhi recover some of her
support and prestige. While the government dithered, she took action. Despite the
many difficulties of the terrain, she reached the village (by car, jeep and elephant), and
was seen to comfort the families of the victims. According to Madhu Limaye (one of
her Socialist opponents) the visit to Belchi had 'several purposes. It helped damn the
Janata Government as being indifferent to the fate of the poor and the Harijans. The

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 ride refurbished Indira Gandhi's image as a friend of the poor and the lowly. It also
showed to the average member of the Congress Party that Indira
Gandhi was a woman of action and she alone could be trusted to lead the fight back to
power.'
2. In October 1977, Mrs. Gandhi was arrested on the orders of Charan Singh, accusing
her of corruption. She was produced before a magistrate the next day; the chargesheet
against her was thrown out by the judge. This bungled arrest had a bad effect on the
Janata government and helped to further redeem the reputation of Mrs. Gandhi.
3. Mrs Gandhi's resurgence alarmed both her opponents and members of her own party.
Within the Congress, a number of senior leaders turned against Mrs Gandhi, led by Y
B Chavan. She in turn split the party in January, with her wing of the Congress being
known as Congress (I).
4. In 1979, following the Shah Commission, special courts were set up to try her for
criminal acts during the Emergency. The common people began to view this
persecution of Mrs Gandhi as vindictive. In the words of Ramachandra Guha: "Janata's
attempts to humiliate the former Prime Minister were seriously misjudged. The
stoicism with which Mrs Gandhi bore her sufferings was much admired and the two
brief arrests allowed her to acquire a halo of martyrdom."
5. Thereafter her fortunes began to revive. In February 1979, the Congress (I) won
comfortable victories in the assemblies of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In the south,
her image was pro-people. She then looked around for a safe seat to re-enter
Parliament, and won comfortably by election, from Chikmagalur in Karnataka. But the
Janata party then tried to expel her from Parliament, for breach of privilege, and
committed her to jail for a week. She had to resign her seat- after which she stood for
successfully for election yet again, a major political setback for the Janata government.
Behind the move to arrest Mrs Gandhi lay the personal rivalries within die Janata Party.
Charan Singh was keen to become Prime Minister and his move to arrest her was to 'steal the
thunder' from PM Morarji Desai. Eventually in June 1978, Desai dismissed Charan Singh from
the Cabinet. But Charan Singh's show of strength through a massive Kisan rally compelled his
return to the Cabinet in January 1979 as Finance Minister. Shortly afterwards, he and the
Socialists walked out of the Cabinet over the issue of the refusal of the Jana Sangh to give up
their links with the RSS. Having been reduced to a minority Desai resigned. Charan Singh now
became Prime Minister, which he had been aiming for, all along, with some outside support
from the Congress (I). But a month later the Congress
(I) withdrew support. The President then dissolved Parliament and declared fresh elections.
The elections were held in January, 1980. Despite the Janata Party's warnings of the threat to
democracy, the people, once again, cutting across caste religion and region, gave a massive

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 mandate to Congress which got 353/529 seats - a 2/3 majority. The infighting of the Janata
government, and its failure to address the social and economic issues - as well as their vendetta
against Mrs Gandhi - condemned them in the eyes of the people. Mrs Gandhi became Prime
Minister again.
Achievement of the Janata Party: The Janata Party came to power on a wave of goodwill.
But this did not last long. For most people the three years of Janata government meant constant
infighting and factionalism. But the distinguished constitutional authority Granville Austin
remarked that the Janata government made a major contribution to the Indian democracy. This
was its "remarkable success in repairing the Constitution from the Emergency's depredations,
in reviving open parliamentary practice through its consultations when repairing the
Constitution, and restoring the independence of the judiciary." This was the work of Shanti
Bhushan, the Law Minister in the Janata Government.
Although it failed to last its full term, the victory of the Janata Party was a watershed in Indian
politics. For the first time since Independence, a party other than the Congress was in power at
the Centre. In the states, too, there was membership of the non Congress parties. In words of
Ramachandra Guha, “the landscape of politics became more variegated".
After the election of 1980, the Janata Party split once again. The old Jana Sangh leaders left it
to form the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the end of 1980.

Return of Mrs Indira Gandhi to power — the Punjab crisis 1980-84

References

Ramachandra Guha India after Gandhi Ch 24 pp. 546-574

Bipan Chandra and Mukherjee India after Independence Ch 19 pp. 265-272; Ch 24 pp.
324-338

The revival of the Congress and return of Mrs Gandhi to power

In the meantime, the Congress witnessed both a split and a revival. Feeling that Indira Gandhi
was not only a spent force but, much worse, a serious political liability, a large number of
established Congress leaders, led by Y.B. Chavan and Brahmanand Reddy, turned against her.
She, in turn, split the party in January 1978, with her wing being known as Congress (I) (for
Indira), and the other later as Congress (U) (for Devraj Urs).

Thereafter, Indira Gandhi’s political fortunes began to revive and in the February 1978 elections
to state assemblies Congress (I) defeated both Janata and the rival Congress in Karnataka and

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Andhra. There were two reasons for this revival. One was the Janata government’s effort to
cause vengeance on Indira Gandhi and punish her for the happenings of the Emergency.

Several commissions of enquiry—the most famous being the Shah Commission —were
appointed to investigate and pinpoint the malpractices, excesses, abuses and atrocities committed
by Indira Gandhi and the officials during the Emergency. The common people, on the other
hand, began to increasingly view Indira Gandhi’s persecution not as justice but as revenge and
vendetta and an effort to disgrace her.

A dramatic demonstration of her growing popularity came when she won a parliament seat with
a large margin from the Chikamagalur constituency in Karnataka in November 1978. Ironically,
soon after, on 19 December, Janata used its majority to expel her from parliament for breach of
privilege and contempt of the house on a minor charge and committed her to jail for a week.

The factional struggle in the Janata government and the party took an acute form in the middle of
1979 as a result on Charan Singh’s advice; the President dissolved the Lok Sabha and announced
mid-term elections. Having been disenchanted with Janata’s non-governance, lack of vision and
incessant mutual quarrels, the people once again turned to Congress and Indira Gandhi,
perceiving her Congress to be the real Congress. The Janata Party’s main appeal consisted of
warnings against the threat to democracy and civil liberties if Indira Gandhi came back to power.
Charan Singh talked of ‘peasant raj’. Indira Gandhi concentrated on Janata’s non-governance,
asking the people to vote for ‘a government that works’. The people, once again cutting across
caste, religion and region as in 1971 and 1977, gave a massive mandate to Congress (I), which
secured 353 out of 529 seats, that is, a two-thirds majority. The Lok Dal with 41, Janata with 31
and Congress (U) with 13 lagged far behind. The CPM and CPI alone withstood the Congress
tide and won 36 and 11 seats respectively.

According to most political observers, Mrs. Indira Gandhi was now suspicious of all around
her and trusted no one except her son Sanjay. According to Dr Bipan Chandra. "most of the
well known and experienced national and state leaders had deserted her during 1977-78. With
a few exceptions, the political leaders around her were raw untried men and women, none of
whom had a political base of their own and who been chosen for their loyalty rather than for
their administrative and political capacities." Thus she took no steps to revitalize the party and
after Sanjay was killed in a plane crash (1980), she tried to fill his place with her older son
Rajiv -who had not taken part in politics so far. He was elected as an MP and elected General
Secretary of the party. The party fell in line, endorsing her choice.
According to Dr Bipan Chandra, in her second term Mrs. Gandhi "faced certain intractable
problems arising out of communal, linguistic and caste conflicts." Some of these grew out of
the relations between the centre and the states and reflected the states desire for greater
autonomy -Kashmir, Assam, and Punjab. Of these the Punjab insurgency would prove the
greatest threat to the Indian state. Communal riots also increased, while atrocities on the

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 Scheduled Castes and Tribes also increased as they began to assert their rights.

Assam’s agitation against foreigners and the Centre’s response (1947-85)

(Main events to be done in detail)

Functioning within the political and economic framework of the Indian Union, politics in various
states have a great deal in common, but their pattern and achievements vary considerably. Each
state has a different constellation of class, caste, social and cultural forces and levels of social
and economic development, and which, in turn, influence its politics. It is, therefore, not
accidental that changes in the social bases of politics, whether of caste, class, tribe, status groups,
religion, region, or gender, are first reflected at the state level.

Despite the many centralizing features of Indian polity as it has developed over the years and the
Centre’s ability to interfere with and encroach upon the powers of the states, the central
government basically relies on the state governments for carrying out its important decisions; the
effectiveness of the central developmental programs also depends on the performance of the
states.

Even when the same party rules in the Centre and the states, the capacity of the central
government to get its plans and policies executed is quite limited.

Turmoil in Assam

Political turmoil racked the state for years because its people feared the weakening or loss of
their identity as Assamese. Several components constituted this fear:

 The Assamese had a strong and persistent grievance that the underdevelopment of Assam
was due to unfair treatment being meted out to it by the central government. The Central
government had neglected its development and also discriminated against it in allocation
of central funds and location of industrial and other economic enterprises. The Centre
was seen as having deprived Assam of its due share of revenues from its crude oil and tea

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 and plywood industries. Assam’s revenues had been pumped out and utilized elsewhere
in the country. Assam’s economic backwardness was ascribed to control of its economy
and resources, by outsiders, mostly Marwaris and Bengalis. Moreover, the labour force in
tea, plywood and other industries was also mostly non-Assamese.

Several times since independence, Assam has witnessed protest movements. There were
demands for a greater share for Assam in the revenues derived from tea and plywood
industries, a higher royalty for its crude oil, larger central financial grants and plan
allocation, location of oil refineries in Assam, greater effort at industrialization of the
state by both the state and the central governments, and greater employment of Assamese
in central government services and public sector enterprises located in the state.

 Throughout the colonial period and for several years after independence, Bengalis settled
in Assam occupied a dominant position in government services and private sectors. The
Assamese-speaking youth felt disadvantaged. They started a movement in the 1950s
demanding preference for Assamese speakers in recruitment to state government services
and making Assamese the sole official language and medium of instruction in schools
and colleges. This to the gradual building up of hostility between Bengali and Assamese
speakers.

In July 1960, it erupted in tragic language riots. Very soon, in 1960 itself, the state
assembly passed a law, against the wishes of Bengali speakers and many tribal groups,
making Assamese the sole official language. In 1972, Assamese was made the sole
medium of instruction also in colleges affiliated to Guwahati University. This effort to
impose the Assamese language became one of the factors which hampered the process of
evolution of the Assamese identity, prevented it from encompassing the entire state and
led to many of the hill tribes demanding separation from Assam.

 Over the years, the demographic profile of Assam underwent a change as a result of
migration from other parts of India and, above all, from East Bengal-Bangladesh. A
massive anti-foreigners movement developed in 1979, and the main reason for this was
the large-scale illegal migration in a relatively short span of time from Bangladesh and to
some extent from Nepal.

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Migration of outsiders into Assam has a long history. The British administration had
encouraged migration of Biharis to work on the tea plantations and Bengali peasants to
settle on the vast uncultivated tracts of Assam. Assamese landlords had welcomed the
hardworking Bengali tenants in the sparsely populated Assam. Between 1939 and 1947
Muslim communalists encouraged Bengali Muslim migration to create a better
bargaining position in case of partition of India. Partition led to a large-scale refugee
influx from Pakistani Bengal into Assam besides West Bengal and Tripura. After 1971,
there occurred a fresh, continuous and large-scale influx of land-hungry Bangladeshi
peasants into Assam. But land in Assam had by now become scarce, and Assamese
peasants and tribals feared loss of their holdings. However, this demographic
transformation generated the feeling of linguistic, cultural and political insecurity that
overwhelmed the Assamese and imparted a strong emotional content to their movement
against illegal migrants in the 1980s.

Since the late 19thcentury and especially after independence, a certain cultural renaissance
took place enhancing people’s pride in Assamese culture and a distinct Assamese
linguistic and cultural identity emerged. Many Assamese felt that the development and
consolidation of a wider Assamese identity, by the gradual assimilation of Assamese
tribes, was prevented by the central government’s decision to separate large tribal areas
from Assam and create small non-viable states such as Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram
and Arunachal Pradesh.

The demographic transformation of Assam created apprehension among many Assamese

that the swamping of Assam by foreigners and non-Assamese Indians would lead to the
Assamese being reduced to a minority in their own land.

There was undoubtedly a basis for these fears. In 1971, Assamese-speaking persons
constituted only 59 per cent of Assam’s population. This percentage covered a large
number of Bengali speakers, many of whom had in the course of time and as a result of
generational change also learnt Assamese and had given the census enumerators
Assamese as their mother tongue because of pure political expediency.

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Afraid that the illegal migrants from Bangladesh and others will acquire a dominant role
in Assam’s politics through the coming election at the end of 1979, the All Assam
Students Union (AASU) and the Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (Assam People’s
Struggle Council), started a massive, anti-illegal migration movement. This campaign
won the support of virtually all sections of Assamese speakers.

They asked the central government to seal Assam’s borders to prevent further inflow of
migrants, to identify all illegal aliens and delete their names from the voters list and to
postpone elections till this was done, and to deport or disperse to other parts of India all
those who had entered the state after 1961.

The years from 1979 to 1985 witnessed political instability in the state, collapse of state
governments, imposition of President’s Rule, sustained, often violent, agitation, frequent
general strikes, civil disobedience campaigns which paralysed all normal life for
prolonged periods, and unprecedented ethnic violence. For several years there were
repeated rounds of negotiations between the leaders of the movement and the central
government, but no agreement could be reached. It was not easy to determine who were
the illegal aliens or ‘foreigners’ or how to go about detecting or deporting them. There
was also lack of goodwill and trust between the two sides.

The central government’s effort to hold a constitutionally mandated election to the state
assembly in 1983 led to its near-total boycott, a complete breakdown of order, and the
worst killings since 1947 on the basis of tribal, linguistic and communal identities. The
Congress party did form the government, but it had no legitimacy at all. The 1983
violence had a traumatic effect on both sides which once again resumed negotiations in
earnest.

Finally, the Rajiv Gandhi government was able to sign an accord with the leaders of the
movement on 15 August 1985. All those foreigners who had entered Assam between
1951 and 1961 were to be given full citizenship, including the right to vote; those who
had done so after 1971 were to be deported; the entrants between 1961 and 1971 were to
be denied voting rights for ten years but would enjoy all other rights of citizenship. A
parallel package for the economic development of Assam, including a second oil refinery,

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 a paper mill and an institute of technology, was also worked out. The central government
also promised to provide ‘legislative and administrative safeguards to protect the cultural,
social, and linguistic identity and heritage’ of the Assamese people.

Nagaland’s demand for autonomy and its resolution (1947- 80) (main events to be done
briefly)

The Nagas were the inhabitants of the Naga hills along the Northeast frontier on the Assam
Burma border. The British had isolated the Nagas from the rest of the country and left them more
or less undisturbed though Christian missionary activity was permitted, which had led to the
growth of a small educated stratum. They numbered nearly 500,000 in 1961, constituted less
than 0.1 per cent of India’s population, and consisted of many separate tribes speaking different
languages.

Immediately after independence, the Government of India followed a policy of integrating the
Naga areas with the state of Assam and India as a whole. A section of the Naga leadership,
however, opposed such integration and rose in rebellion under the leadership of A.Z. Phizo,
demanding separation from India and complete independence. They were encouraged in this
move by some of the British officials and missionaries. In 1955, these separatist Nagas declared
the formation of an independent government and the launching of a violent insurrection.

The Government of India responded with a two-track policy in line with Jawaharlal Nehru’s
wider approach towards the tribal people. On the one hand, the Government of India made it
clear that it would firmly oppose the secessionist demand and would not tolerate recourse to
violence. And it will follow a policy of suppression and non-negotiations towards a violent
secessionist movement. Consequently, when one section of the Nagas organized an armed
struggle for independence, the Government of India replied by sending its army to Nagaland in
early 1956 to restore peace and order.

On the other hand, Nehru realized that while strong and quick military action would make it
clear that the rebels were in a no-win situation, total physical suppression was neither possible
nor desirable, for the objective had to be the conciliation and winning over of the Naga people.

Nehru was wedded to a ‘friendly approach’. Even while encouraging the Nagas to integrate with
the rest of the country ‘in mind and spirit’; he favoured their right to maintain their autonomy in
cultural and other matters. He was, therefore, willing to go a long way to win over the Nagas by
granting them a large degree of autonomy.

Refusing to negotiate with Phizo or his supporters as long as they did not give up their demand
for independence or the armed rebellion, he carried on prolonged negotiations with the more

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moderate, non-violent and non-secessionist Naga leaders, who realized that they could not hope
to get a larger degree of autonomy or a more sympathetic leader to settle with than Nehru.

In fact, once the back of the armed rebellion was broken by the middle of 1957, the more
moderate Naga leaders headed by Dr Imkongliba Ao came to the fore. They negotiated for the
creation of the state of Nagaland within the Indian Union. The Government of India accepted
their demand through a series of intermediate steps; and the state of Nagaland came into
existence in 1963. A further step forward was taken in the integration of the Indian nation.

With the formation of Nagaland as a state the back of the rebellion was broken as the rebels lost
much of their popular support. But though the insurgency has been brought under control,
sporadic guerrilla activity by Naga rebels trained in China, Pakistan and Burma (Myanmar) and
periodic terrorist attacks continue till this day.

Even though the record of the Indian army in Nagaland has been on the whole clean, especially if
the difficult conditions under which they operate are kept in view, it has not been without
blemish. Its behaviour has been sometimes improper and in rare cases even brutal. Too many
times innocent people have suffered. But then it has also paid a heavy price through the loss of
its soldiers and officers in guerrilla attacks.

Mizoram Movement (1959-86) (to be touched upon)

The Mizo Hills Area became the Lushai Hill Districts within Assam state at the time of
independence. In 1954 it was renamed the Mizo Hill District of Assam.

Secessionist demands backed by some British officials had grown in Mizoram in 1947 but had
failed to get much support from the youthful Mizo leadership, which concentrated instead on the
issues of democratization of Mizo society, economic development and adequate representation of
Mizos in the Assam legislature. However, unhappiness with the Assam government’s relief
measures during the famine of 1959 and the passage of the Act in 1961, making Assamese the
official language of the state, led to the formation of the Mizo National Front (MNF), with
Laldenga as president.

While participating in electoral politics, the MNF created a military wing which received arms
and ammunition and military training from East Pakistan and China. In March 1966, the MNF
declared independence from India, proclaimed a military uprising and attacked military and
civilian targets.

The Government of India responded with immediate massive counter-insurgency measures by

the army. Within a few weeks the insurrection was crushed and government control restored,
though stray guerrilla activity continued. Most of the hard-core Mizo leaders escaped to East
Pakistan. In 1973, after the less extremist Mizo leaders had scaled down their demand to that of a
separate state of Mizoram within the Indian Union.

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Mizo insurgency gained some renewed strength in the late 1970s but was again effectively dealt
with by the Indian armed forces. Having decimated the ranks of the separatist insurgents, the
Government of India, continuing to follow the Nehruvian tribal policy, was now willing to show
consideration, offer liberal terms of amnesty to the remnants of the rebel forces and conduct
negotiations for peace.

A settlement was finally arrived at in 1986. Laldenga and the MNF agreed to abandon
underground violent activities, surrender before the Indian authorities along with their arms, and
re-enter the constitutional political stream.

The Government of India agreed to the grant of full statehood to Mizoram, guaranteeing full
autonomy in regard to culture, tradition, land laws, etc. As a part of the accord, a government
with Laldenga as chief minister was formed in the new state of Mizoram in February 1987.

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