The quiet drama of the people’s choice in Mizoram has actually underlined the chief message of the latest assembly elections in the most startling way. The three seats left for the Mizo National Front, ruling the state for the last 10 years, appear to be almost a concession by the people amid the astonishing sweep the Congress has achieved. Neither the showing of the MNF’s ally, the Maraland Democratic Front, nor that of the other contender, the United Democratic Alliance, was anything at all to write home about. With 32 seats out of a total of 40 in the state assembly, the Congress has won a four-fifths majority, a first-time phenomenon for any party since the state was formed. While the humiliated MNF can only summon up anti-incumbency sentiment among the people as reason for its defeat, it also has to be asked whether the simplification implicit in this umbrella term is not a poor measure of the people’s understanding. That the chief minister, Zoramthanga, lost in both the seats he contested in, is surely more a judgment than a sentiment. There was no anti-incumbency sentiment against Sheila Dikshit in Delhi even after 10 years.

Perhaps the MNF and its leaders need to look back on their performance in the two terms they have been in power. The MNF has obviously outlived its image as the rebels who became a political party committed to peace and the people, and has acquired instead a reputation for corruption and lack of performance. Evidently, the Congress propaganda about the government’s corruption with regard to the Central funds released to Mizoram during the rat-induced famine found many takers. In the increasingly competitive atmosphere of a growing economy, the reduction of violence, the MNF’s most touted achievement, may not be the only or even the most important aspiration of the people. Development now has many faces. Mizoram seems to have relied on a party whose promises on this front appear to be credible.