The Mizo independence movement

This thesis, dealing with the history of the Mizo Independence Movement, constitutes an attempt to identify the Mizo people, and their gradual movement toward independence. Because virtually nothing is known about the Mizo people by the Western World, this thesis hopefully will contribute to a beginning understanding of the Mizo people as well as a basic understanding of the current political situation in northeastern India between the end of World War II until 1974. Very little has been written about the Mizo people in either the English or the Mizo languages. The writer spent several months researching in the University of California, Berkeley, library, and the Graduate Library of the University of Washington, Seattle. In addition to research in the newspaper room at the University of California, Berkeley, library, I perused The Amrita Bazar Patrika, The Assam Tribune, The Hindustan Standard, and The Statesman. Except for the newspaper entitled The Citizen, read at the University of Washington Library, the newspaper research was done at Berkeley. Finally, The London Times and The New York Times were scanned to throw a western perspective upon the relations between the Indian Government and the Mizo people. Moreover, the writer spent some time at the California State University, Humboldt, Arcata, California, and California State University, Fresno, California. In researching in these universities, the writer employed The Overseas Hindustan Times and The Illustrated Weekly for recent events in Mizoram. In addition to newspapers, perusal at the Government Documents Room of the University of Washington Library proved of invaluable aid in supplying me with the documents entitled Suppression of Mizos in India; Assam-Manipur-Tripura; Scope for Industrial Development in Assam; and proceedings of the India Parliament, both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, analogous to the United States Congressional Record were perused when such proceedings dealt with the Mizo people. The Constitution of the Government of India (1953) was available also. In addition, more documents were found in the California State University, Fresno, namely, India: A Reference Annual, 1973, and Hindustan Year-Book and Who's Who. There was also a vast quantity of information I found in books and pamphlets written in the Mizo language and dealing with many social and political problems of the past thirty years. Still more information in the Mizo language was available to me through personal letters and statements from various acquaintances living in Mizoram and Manipur today, and commenting on the Mizo political situation. Of particular importance among these writings were early political party documents, obtained from India from political leaders who had been involved in the first days of Mizo political party formation. I have basically employed the historico-cultural approach to my subject and to the materials available to me. It has seemed that for a full understanding of the political situation in Mizoram from the end of World War II until 1974, it was necessary to place political history within the broader context of the total cultural and general historical milieu of the Mizo people that included their first indigenous beginnings, through and including the influence of the missionaries in the 19th century, and later, the influence of the British Empire, and finally, the most recent influence of the Government of India itself upon the Mizo people.