'My ministers don't follow Hindi': Mizo CM urges Shah to replace Chief Secy

Aizawl, Nov 9 (IANS) Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga has requested Union Home Minister Amit Shah to replace incumbent Chief Secretary Renu Sharma, as she is not familiar with the Mizo language and Mizo people generally do not understand Hindi, officials said here on Tuesday.

A Mizoram government official said that the Chief Minister before joining of the new Chief Secretary on November 1 had written to Shah stating that after the retirement of Chief Secretary Lalnunmawia Chuaugo, a Gujarat cadre IAS officer, incumbent Additional Chief Secretary J.C Ramthanga (a Manipur cadre IAS officer) should be the next Chief Secretary.

However, the Home Ministry posted Sharma, an AGMUT cadre 1988 batch IAS officer, as the new Chief Secretary of Mizoram. Sharma assumed charge on November 1.

Sharma was earlier posted as the Additional Chief Secretary (Transport) in the Government of NCT of Delhi. She is also looking after the Home, Political and Cabinet Vigilance departments in the Mizoram government.

The Mizoram Chief Minister in his letter to Shah said that Mizo people by and large do not understand Hindi, and none of his Cabinet ministers understands Hindi, while some even have problems with the English language.

"In such a background, a Chief Secretary without the working knowledge of Mizo language will never be an effective and efficient Chief Secretary. Due to this fact, the Government of India never posted a Chief Secretary who did not have working knowledge of Mizo language since the creation of the state," the Chief Minister said.

"Whether it is the UPA government or the NDA government at the Centre, this has been a practice since the creation of Mizoram. It is a well-known fact that in other states of India, a Chief Secretary who does not have the basic working knowledge of the local language is not posted there at all," he added.

Zoramthanga, who is also the President of the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF), said in his letter that his party has been an partner to the NDA from the beginning up to this time.

"While many of the states are changing themselves from one alliance group to another, I am the only one in the whole of northeast who has been a faithful partner of the NDA right from the beginning up to this time. I, therefore, believe that I deserve a special favour and consideration for this faithful friendship with NDA," he said.

The MNF led by Zoramthanga is also the partner of the BJP-led anti-Congress alliance, North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma as its convener.

Christian dominated Mizoram was previously part of Assam until 1972, when it was carved out as a Union Territory. After the signing of the Mizo Peace Accord, it became a full-fledged state in 1986.

Over 94 per cent of Mizoram's 1.1 million population are tribals.