The Bru–Mizo Conflict in Mizoram

This is in response to the article “The Bru Conundrum in North East India” (EPW, 28 April 2018) by Roluahpuia, which attempts to project the Mizos as victims in Mizoram through a selective submission of events, not to mention its ethnocentric tone and theft of history of the Brus (Reangs). In the present article, we intend to highlight the problematic of the new Mizo identity which exhibits an amnesia of its past in articulating the present, and record the discomfort we share with the views of the author of the aforementioned article.

A sophisticated bureaucratic regime, powerful civil society and culturo-religious bodies dominate organised politics and everyday life in Mizoram. This bureaucratic structure and regime are drawn primarily from the dominant ethnic majority in the state—the Mizos. The Presbyterian Church, Young Mizo Association (YMA), Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) and Mizo Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl (MHIP), among others, complete the civil society and culturo-religious bodies, albeit being hegemonic in their practice of politics. Squeezed and constantly violated are the minorities in the state—the Brus, the Hmar and the Chakmas. These are the victims in Mizoram, not the Mizos, as stated by the author.