AIZAWL, July 15 - A few games of badminton after a short meditation � that is how Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga, who turned 75 on Sunday, usually starts a day.
�Being on the wrong side of sixty, Pu Zoramthanga is still going strong, physically and mentally, thanks to his consciousness about his health,� a source close to the CM said.
He has to because he has had a task to bring back his party to power, which he successfully did in the November 2018 elections, and to fulfill his vision for Mizoram.
As Zoramthanga, a father of two, son Ramthansiama, 34, and daughter Milari, 30, celebrated his 75th birthday yesterday, his residence was flooded with happy birthday wishes from friends, relatives and party workers.
As the day falls on a Sunday, there was no big birthday party. His wife Roneihsangi threw a tea party for Zoramthanga�s birthday at MNF general headquarters office Hnam Run here today. Born in 1944 in a small village of Samthang near the Burma (Myanmar) border in Champhai district to Darphunga and his wife Vanhnuaithangi, Zoramthanga completed his high school from Govt Gandhi Memorial School in Champhai and later graduated in English from the DM College in Imphal.
He joined the Laldenga-led Mizo National Front, then a banned underground outfit, in 1968, as a fresh graduate and held the second highest post, vice president in later years.
He was elected MLA from his home constituency Champhai in the first Mizoram State Assembly electionsin 1987, after the MNF-Government of India peace agreement in 1986. Since then he has retained the seat until the 2008 elections when he was defeated by Congress newcomer TT Zothansanga.
He succeeded Laldenga when the latter died in 1990 and became the MNF president. He managed to retain the top post in a controversial party election in 1997. He became the Chief Minister for two consecutive terms from 2003 to 2013.
He failed to bring his party back to power in 2013 assembly polls and he too lost the constituency he contested. However, his never-say-die attitude brought the party back to power in the 2018 elections, registering a thumping victory against the incumbent Congress party. He became the Chief Minister for the third term.
