Among the several unintended consequences of the ongoing Spring Revolution in Myanmar has been the consolidation of the historical bond between the people of the country’s Chin State and their ethnic kin in the contiguous Indian border state of Mizoram.
The region is home to a host of communities belonging to the Mizo-Chin-Kuki-Zo groups that share ethnic ties. They profess Christianity and speak varied dialects but are united in their resolve to overthrow the State Administration Council (SAC), as the military regime is known in Myanmar.
Thousands of refugees from Chin State and Sagaing Region crossed over to Mizoram in 2021 in the months after the military coup due to disturbed conditions in the country. This was a replay of the situation that unfolded after the 1988 uprising in Myanmar.
Mizoram went all out to assist the refugees. The government allocated land for refugee camps to be constructed across the state. Civil society groups mobilized resources for assistance to the refugees, estimated to number around 31,000 currently.
Mizoram shares a 510-kilometer border with Chin State. People from both sides are allowed to cross the border without restrictions. Only recently has the Indian government taken steps to control the movement of people along the border. However, New Delhi’s announcement of a plan to fence the border has triggered opposition in Mizoram and other Indian states abutting Myanmar.
Not surprisingly, activists of Myanmar’s rebel groups have taken shelter in Mizoram. Mizoram’s support for the resistance movement in Chin State has been pivotal in tilting the balance against the military regime. Currently, the military regime controls no more than 15-20 percent of the entire Chin State, if functionaries of some resistance groups are to be believed.
Functionaries of several resistance groups, including the Chin National Front (CNF), whom this correspondent interacted with several times over the past three years expressed their gratitude for the assistance received from Mizoram.
Mizoram Factor in Myanmar
The people of Chin State have depended on Mizoram in multiple ways long before the Spring Revolution was launched against the military regime. The reason is the dire economic situation in Chin State, which had the highest poverty rate among all states and regions in Myanmar about a decade ago. A survey in 2015 revealed that almost 80 percent of households had poor or borderline food security.
Not surprisingly, many people of Chin State, especially those living near the border with India, have relied heavily on Mizoram for their livelihoods. They are engaged in jobs in Mizoram or trading in merchandise to and from the Indian state.
The Indian items exported from Mizoram range from medicines, fuel, solar panels, vegetable oil, salt, and garments to precursor chemicals for the manufacture of narcotics. Fuel (petrol and diesel) and medicines exported from India to Chin State and other border regions of Myanmar have increased manifold since the onset of the Spring Revolution because the junta has deliberately choked supply routes from mainland Myanmar to territories controlled by the resistance groups as part of the “Four Cuts” strategy against the opposition.
That a severe humanitarian crisis has still not gripped Myanmar’s Chin State (and Rakhine State) is largely due to the continuing supply of essential commodities from Mizoram through multiple routes. Prices have soared and the supply is at times erratic, but there is no denying that a closer bond among the communities on both sides of the border has been forged by the phenomenon.
“Greater Mizoram” and Chin State
The demand for a “Greater Mizoram,” which envisages bringing together all territories inhabited by Mizo-Kuki-Zo ethnic groups in Mizoram and the contiguous Indian states of Manipur, Assam, and Tripura under a single administrative mechanism, has received a boost in recent years. The idea originated several decades ago. The Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee included the demand for Greater Mizoram in its constitution. The Mizo National Front (MNF) had reportedly made a case for integration of these areas when it was engaged in talks with the Indian government that paved the way for the Mizo Accord of 1986.
The idea received a boost in the wake of ethnic riots that erupted in May 2023 in Manipur, compelling around 10,000 people from the Kuki-Zo communities to flee their homes and seek refuge in Mizoram. It became a poll issue as well during the 2024 assembly elections in Mizoram, with every political party arguing in favor of unifying all communities.
The Spring Revolution in Myanmar has had the impact of dynamically widening the concept of Greater Mizoram to include Chin State, which was amply evidenced by certain developments over the past couple of years. The Mizoram government had rejected an order by India’s Union Home Ministry in early 2021 to prevent the entry of refugees from Myanmar. Subsequently, community and political leaders in the state took the lead in organizing meetings in the state among Chin resistance groups for greater unity against Myanmar’s junta.
Last year, an Aizawl-based group, the Zo Reunification Organization (ZORO), convened a meeting to broker peace and end the feud between two resistance groups in Chin State — the Zomi Revolutionary Organization (ZRO) and Chin National Front (CNF) — that had engaged in sporadic gun battles after the military coup. These efforts culminated in an agreement and a pledge by the leaders of the two outfits to abstain from armed clashes.
Early this month, Mizoram’s Chief Minister Lalduhoma took the lead in inviting leaders from several resistance groups in Chin State for discussions to end the internecine squabbles among them. The meeting led to a merger agreement between the Chinland Council and the Interim Chin National Consultative Council (ICNCC) on February 27 to form a unified Chin National Council.
Ahead of this development was the visit to Chin State by Mizoram Member of Parliament K. Vanlalvena to an office of the Chinland Council in Chin State, where he invited members of the alliance to join the Indian Union. Myanmar’s junta reacted sharply with a statement urging Indian politicians to avoid “self-interested actions” that could harm bilateral relations.
South Korean Connection
Strange as it may seem, the bond between Mizoram, Chin State, and other areas inhabited by the Mizo-Kuki-Zo-Chin communities has been strengthened by Korean movies.
Local residents of Aizawl are of the view that Korean movies became popular in Mizoram in the early 2000s when a Korean channel called Arirag was freely broadcast in India’s northeastern region. The main reason for the spread of dubbed Korean movies was the failure of India’s national broadcaster Doordarshan to telecast programs in the Mizo language. A similar situation prevailed in Chin State with a vacuum being created owing to the absence of TV programs in the local language(s). This apart, the social themes portrayed in the Korean movies had a wide appeal among the people.
By the early 2010s, a local cable channel LPS in Mizoram was broadcasting as many as 15 Korean serials. The demand was so high that the channel was prompted to start two production houses where Korean films were subtitled or dubbed in the Mizo language. CDs and DVDs were produced that reached as far as the Chin locality of Tahan at Kalay in Sagaing Region, which I saw during my travels in the region two years ago.
The consequence has been the spread and acceptance of the Mizo language as the lingua franca of the region, where at least 40 dialects are spoken on both sides of the border.
Myanmar’s junta will not easily be able to recover Chin State since it has the unique advantage of active support from across the border in Mizoram. Cross-border linkages that have been forged are now morphed into Greater Mizoram, which is unlikely to be reversed with indications that New Delhi is also offering tacit support.
