Aloysius Thanglura (3 December 1926 - 9 September 1994) was an Indian politician from modern-day

Mizoram Mizoram is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India, with Aizawl as its Capital city, capital and largest city. It shares 722-kilometres (449 miles) of international borders with Bangladesh to the west, and Myanmar t ...

. He was a Member of Parliament, representing

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

in the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

, the upper house of India's parliament. He was the first Mizo law graduate, first Mizo advocate in the Assam High Court. He was also the first and last Mizo Cabinet Minister in the government of Assam.

Early life

Aloysius Thanglura was born on 3 December 1926 in

Sairang Sairang is a town in the Aizawl district of the Indian state of Mizoram. Due to its proximity with Aizawl city, it acts as a satellite town of the city. History After the British invasion of 1871-1872, Bengali traders set up the first marketpl ...

village,

Lushai Hills District The Mizo District, formerly called Lushai Hills District, was an autonomous district of the Indian state of Assam from 1947 till 1972 until it was granted the status of a Union Territory. This region was a significant part of Mizo history as it ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. He passed his Intermediate in science at St. Anthony’s College and continued his studies with English Honours at

Cotton College Cotton College was a Roman Catholic boarding school in Cotton, Staffordshire, United Kingdom. It was also known as ''Saint Wilfrid's College''. The school buildings were centred on Cotton Hall, a country house used by religious communities fr ...

Gauhati Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

. A. Thanglura did his

Bachelor of Law A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

Gauhati University Gauhati University also known as GU, is a collegiate public state university located in Guwahati, Assam, India. It was established on 26 January 1948 under the provisions of an Act enacted by the Assam Legislative Assembly and is the oldest un ...

in 1950. Before joining politics, he wrote articles in the

Assam Tribune ''The Assam Tribune'' is an Indian English daily newspaper published from Guwahati and Dibrugarh, Assam. With over 700,000 copies of current circulation and a readership of over 3 million, it is the highest circulated English daily in northeaste ...

Political career

Thanglura contested in the MLA elections as a

Mizo Union Mizo Union (6 April 1946 – 12 January 1974) was the first political party in Mizoram, in Northeast India. It was founded on 6 April 1946 at Aizawl as the Mizo Common People's Union. At the time of independence of India from British rule in I ...

and was elected in

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

. He was given the post of Parliamentary Secretary and later he was promoted as Chief Parliamentary Secretary. Simultaneously he also held the post of

Deputy Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

of Congress Party of Assam. He was one of the leaders of the Hill State Movement which demanded a separate tribal state in

Northeast India Northeast India, officially the North Eastern Region (NER), is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political Administrative divisions of India, administrative division of the country. It comprises eight States and ...

and became the first chairman of the APHLC in 1960. However, Thanglura left the APHLC to form the Mizoram District Congress at Aizawl in 1961. He was elected to the

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

. In the 1967 elections, he was elected as MLA from

Aizawl Aizawl (, American English, US: , British English, UK: ; Mizo language, Mizo: ), formerly known as Aijal, is the capital city and the most populous city of Mizoram, India. It is also the third largest city in northeast India. It is situated ato ...

East and West constituencies and as a result of which he relinquished his Rajya Sabha and Aizawl East seats and was subsequently sworn in as a Cabinet Minister of Assam. Thus, A. Thanglura became the first and last Cabinet Minister of Assam from the

Mizo District The Mizo District, formerly called Lushai Hills District, was an autonomous district of the Indian state of Assam from 1947 till 1972 until it was granted the status of a Union Territory. This region was a significant part of Mizo history as it ...

before it was elevated into an

Union Territory Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the Government of India, central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own State governments of India, s ...

Personal life

He died on 9 September 1994.

Legacy

Thanglura was known for his oratory skills, his statements often drawing a mix of ire and amusement. After his retirement from active politics he wrote two books: *''Zoram politik inlumlet dan'' *''Mihrâng leh Sahrâng I & II'' "Zoram politik inlumlet dan" provides an important insight to the political history of Mizoram. It is widely recognized as one of the best Mizo work of history written.

References

Books