Bru repatriation took centrestage in Mizoram politics

The problem of Bru refugees lodged in relief camps in Tripura since 1997 continued to remain at the centrestage of politics and a social irritant in Mizoram during 2014.
Another issue that rocked the state during the year was relaxation of a prohibition law, in force in the state for 17 years, a move that invited massive opposition from the powerful church.
Border tension hit the state again after Assam officials allegedly dismantled a farm hut near the border in Buhchangphai village in Kolasib district in April prompting the state government to deploy two platoons of armed police.
The outbreak of the dreaded swine fever called Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) hit the state during March-April killing hundreds of pigs in the state and forcing the state veterinary department to cull scores of them.

The abduction of Deep Mondal of West Bengal, working under a telecom service provider, from a relief camp on November 23, 2013 by Bru goons and his captivity inside Bangladesh jungles since then caused serious consternation in the Mizo society.
Social pressure continued to mount as civil societies demanded his unconditional release and a large number of Young Mizo Association (YMA) volunteers even went to the Mizoram-Bangladesh border as a 'search party'.

Mondal was finally released on March 22 by the abductors and reunited with his family a few days later.
The civil societies, angered by Election Commission's decision to allow Bru voters in the relief camps, outside Mizoram, began mounting pressures on the poll panel and the state government. In February, major civil societies and student bodies submitted a joint memorandum to Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath urging him to delete names of Brus lodged in Tripura relief camps from Mizoram's voter lists.

The civil societies said that the Bru voters, despite several attempts by the centre, the Mizoram government and the Mizo people to repatriate them, refused to return to Mizoram and should be disenfranchised.
State chief minister Lal Thanhawla also wrote to Sampath in March on the same issue.
However, the Election Commission, on March 23 instructed the Tripura election officials to conduct polls for the Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held in Mizoram on April 9 for the 11,243 Brus voters in the relief camps through postal ballots.
The civil societies in Mizoram were on the warpath over the E''s decision and launched a massive protest rally in Aizawl on March 24 where the copies of the Bru voters' lists and the EC's instructions were burnt in front of the state election directorate office.

The civil societies even decided to boycott the election to the lone Lok Sabha seat and by-poll to the Hrangturzo assembly seat, vacated by Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla who won from two seats in the polls to the 40-member state legislature held on November 25, 2013.