Laldenga remembered in Mizoram on death anniversary

Rich tributes were paid to the legendary Mizo leader Laldenga in Mizoram on his 26th death anniversary today with leaders of the Mizo National Front (MNF) and others laying wreaths at his burial place in Aizawl this morning.
Former state home minister and 'Army Chief' of the erstwhile underground Mizo National Army (MNA) Tawnluia and Laldenga's widow Lalbiakdiki were among those who laid wreaths at Laldenga's tomb.
Born on July 11, 1927 at south Mizoram's Pukpui village in Lunglei district, Laldenga joined the British Indian Army in 1944 and formed the Mizo National Famine Front while Mizoram was reeling under a great famine called 'Mautam' caused by gregarious bamboo flowering which resulted in population explosion of rodents in the late 1950s.

He converted the MNFF into a political party - the Mizo National Front (MNF) on October 22, 1961 with its main object to struggle for independence from the Indian Union.
The MNF declared independence on March one 1966 plunging Mizoram into a disturbed state for 20 years before signing peace accord on June 30, 1986 and Mizoram became a full-fledged state on February 20, 1987.
Laldenga became the first chief minister after MNF won the 1987 Assembly polls, but after 19 months, President's Rule imposed in the state.
Suffering from lung cancer, he was treated at a cancer institute in New York and he died in London while returning home on July 7, 1990.

He was accorded a state funeral in Aizawl on July 13 and was the only person to be accorded state funeral in the state.