Aizawl, Nov 9: Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga has shot a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah objecting to the appointment of Renu Sharma as the new Chief Secretary of Mizoram and requested the Centre to appoint a Mizo-speaking Chief Secretary for the state.

In the letter sent on Monday, Zoramthanga said Sharma doesn’t know Mizo whereas Mizo people largely don’t understand Hindi, including his Ministers, and some of the Ministers don’t even understand English properly.

Defending his stance for a Mizo Chief Secretary, the CM said, “A Chief Secretary without the knowledge of a working standard 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 does not know the working standard of Mizo language since the creation of the state of Mizoram. Whether it is the UPA Government or the NDA Government at the Centre, this has been a practice since the creation of Mizoram State. It is a well known fact that in other States of India, a Chief Secretary, who does not know even the basic working language of the respective state is never posted at all.”

Zoramthanga has requested for appointing Additional Chief Secretary J.C. Ramthanga as the new Chief Secretary.

“I, therefore earnestly request you to modify the order and kindly accept my proposal (promoting JC Ramthanga as Chief Secretary),” urged the Chief Minister in the letter.

Centre – Mizoram at loggerheads

It may be mentioned that the Centre and the state govt have been at loggerhead over the appointment of the new Chief Secretary.

Renu Sharma is an AGMUT cadre IAS officer of the 1988 batch, and she was appointed by the Centre on 28 October 2021 to take charge from 1 November 2021 as Chief secretary of Mizoram. The same day, the Mizoram government also ordered J.C. Ramthanga to take charge as Chief Secretary from November 1 until further orders, thus Mizoram now has two Chief Secretaries.