Tripura: Mizo Convention demands name change from "Lushai" to "Mizo" in state's Scheduled Tribe list

The Mizo Convention of Jampui Hills, a social organization representing the Mizo community, has written to Tripura Governor Indrasena Reddy Nallu, demanding the acceleration of several key initiatives including changing the tribe name from "Lushai" to "Mizo" in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list of the state, introducing the Mizo language in Tripura University, and enacting the Mizo Customary Law.

Jampui Hills is located in the Kanchanpur Sub-division of Tripura’s North District, which shares an interstate boundary with Mizoram. The majority of people living in the hills are from the Mizo community.

In their press release, Lalrawntlinga Sailo, the President and Dr Zairemthiama Pachuau, the General Secretary of the Mizo Convention, expressed their commitment to making Jampui Hill "the Heaven of Tripura," both metaphorically and physically.

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“To continue achieving that goal, we urge you to consider the following points of development and empowerment, falling under your esteemed office. Kindly expedite the process of changing the name of our tribe from "Lushai" to "Mizo" in the ST list/Presidential list of Tripura,” the press release reads.

They have also urged the resumption of the process to introduce the Mizo language subject in Tripura University, a proposal that was previously submitted as advised by Tripura University.

“The introduction of the Mizo language subject in Tripura University will benefit a significant population of students in Tripura who have adopted Mizo as their lingua franca. It will spare them from the compulsion of taking up English or Bengali language subjects, which they find challenging. There are readily available and well-developed Mizo textbooks and literature for the curriculum and syllabus,” they explained.

Finally, they have demanded facilitation for the finalization and enactment of the Mizo Customary Law, which was already passed at the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council Session and is pending approval from the State Cabinet and the Honourable Governor's signature.