Meet the 5-time chief minister of Mizoram

January 06, 2014 13:01

At a time when the security cordon, residence etc of elected chief ministers is in the news, Debaashish Bhattacharya of The Telegraph meets Lal Thanhawla and files a dispatch. His opening paragraphs tell a story of their own:

Lal Thanhawla doesn't need security to feel secure. The only security visible at the residence of the Mizoram chief minister is a paramilitary jawan who opens the gate to his bungalow atop a hillock in Aizawl, the capital of the northeastern state bordering Bangladesh and Myanmar. There is no one else to frisk a visitor or his bag. Neither is there a CCTV watching you.

Even the dog that stands guard at the door to his living room with a golden chain around its neck doesn't move or bark. Lal Thanhawla says he picked up the clay dog at a Mumbai shop a few years ago because "it resembled a real dog". He has a "real" dog too, a cocker spaniel wrapped up in a woollen cloth against the freezing Mizoram cold.

But dogs or not, in a way, Lal Thanhawla's home, with its scant security, mirrors what Mizoram is today. Once a hotbed of insurgency, it is now perhaps the most peaceful state in a region still beset with militancy.

Read the full report here.

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