Chakma District Congress leaders meet with Bhakta Charan Das at AICC Office, New Delhi

New Delhi, 28th March 2022: Shri Ramani Chakma, President, Chakma District Congress Committee (CDCC) and Shri Victor Talukdar Chakma, General Secretary, CDCC i/c Media Department met with Mr Bhakta Charan Das, at AICC office in New Delhi today. Mr Bhakta Charan Das ji, Former Union Minister of State, Railways and Youth Affairs & Sports who is also the National General Secretary of AICC, incharge of Bihar, Manipur and Mizoram will visit Kamalanagar, the headquarters of CADC next month.

The top level delegation from the Chakma District Congress Committee had discussed on various important issues pertaining to development of the minority Chakma community in Mizoram and the contribution of the Congress party in the establishment of the Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC) in 1972. The Chakma Autonomous District Council was established in the year 1972 under the leadership of Prime Minister Smt Indira Gandhi. Since then the Chakma tribal belt in the western part of Mizoram has been the strong bastion of the Indian National Congress.

The high level delegation team had also discussed about the upcoming MDC election in CADC in April 2023. This upcoming election is of great significance for the Congress party in the state of Mizoram because the Chakma tribal people are historically ardent supporters of the Congress party and the Gandhi family in particular. The Buddhist Chakma minority community have significant influence in seven assembly constituencies in Mizoram and play a key electoral role in these constituencies. Therefore, the upcoming election in the Chakma Autonomous District Council will have a direct impact on the State Assembly Elections in Mizoram to be held later at the end of the same year in November-December. Further, it is worth mentioning that currently four out of the five existing Congress MLAs in Mizoram are backed by the strong support of the Chakma population in those constituencies. Therefore, it is crucial for the Congress party to retain its loyalty and support in the Chakma areas.

Historically, the leaders of the Congress Party have been very supportive and sympathetic towards the problems of Chakma minority community since the time of partition of India in 1947. The top leadership of the Congress party including Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi have made great contributions towards the humanitarian cause of the Chakmas. There are certain specific Chakma regions within Mizoram where the Congress party has dominated since the independence of India and no other political party could ever challenge its stronghold in that region within Lunglei District. However, recently the BJP has been trying to make inroads into the state of Mizoram by focusing in the Chakma Autonomous District Council. In the last Assembly Election in 2018, the lone BJP MLA in Mizoram was elected from the Chakma Autonomous District Council, when the sitting Congress MLA switched to the BJP at the last moment just before the election. Therefore, the Congress party must fight with greater force in the upcoming election in Chakma Autonomous District Council in April 2023.