Laldenga

Laldenga (11 June 1927 – 7 July 1990) was a Mizo separatist and politician from Mizoram in northeast India. He was the founder of the Mizo National Front, a social organisation turned political party. He was the first Chief Minister of Mizoram as a federated state, the office of which he held from 1986 to 1988.

Originally a Havildar in the Indian Army, Laldenga later worked as an Accounts Clerk in the Government of Assam. Disappointed by the government's indifference to the severe famine (called Mautam) in the Mizo district in the late 1950s, he rebelled against the government. As a leader of the Mizo National Front (MNF), he led a secessionist war seeking Mizo territory's independence from India. He was captured many times, and spent most of his time in exile in Bangladesh. The guerrilla movement lasted for sixteen years till the Mizo Accord was signed in 1986, by which he became the Chief Minister of the new state of Mizoram. He won the first Mizoram Legislative Assembly election under statehood in 1987, and continued as Chief Minister for another year. He died of lung cancer in 1990.