ABSTRACT
In Mizoram, one of the largely Christian inhabited states in Northeast India, the church plays a vital role not only in social and religious life but also in the political life of the people. Church beliefs and doctrines are deeply rooted in Mizo society and the role of the church is evident in creating identity consciousness and making identity boundaries among the Mizos. Church is not merely a religious institution but also a social institution where lot of social activities are coordinated and performed. Its contribution to the social development of the state, especially in the areas of literacy, education and health, and making people aware of social issues such as drug abuse and alcoholism is well known. The church is attached to a web of institutions such as schools, hospitals, training centres and associations, and thereby it exercises its social control and public legitimacy. On many occasions, church resorts to political action that aims at influencing the everyday life of the people in state. During the insurgency, the church initiated peace process had played a vital role in the signing of the Mizo Accord in 1986.
The more overt form of the church’s political action in Mizoram was the formation of the Mizo Peoples Forum (MPF), a conglomeration of major churches and non-governmental organizations to ‘cleanse’ electoral politics, in June 2006. A Memorandum of Undertaking with major political parties in the state, the MPF enforced certain ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ to political parties during the electioneering. Accordingly, parties were requested to refrain from organizing grand feasting on the eve of the election and distribution of money during the election, prohibiting parties from dropping the voters at their polling stations by means of vehicles, restricting the number of flags, posters and banners, banning door to door campaign ten days prior to the polling day and so forth. The ‘Election Guidelines’ enforced by the MPF, on par with the ‘Model Code of Conduct’ issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI), among other things, stressed the need for ensuring a peaceful election by monitoring the selection of party candidates by the parties, taking into account their hard work and integrity. The church’s political action as the ‘election watchdog’ was even appreciated and endorsed by the Election Commission of India.
The church, while setting a new morality in politics through its political action during electioneering, raises certain critical questions about the functioning and the legitimacy of public institutions such as ECI. The chapter analyzes how the church’s mode to political action during elections challenges the state’s authority in democracy. In other words, how does the undue political action of the ecclesiastical authority during elections counterpoise to political institutions and thereby the spirit of political obligation itself?
