Aizawl: Former Mizoram chief minister Brig T Sailo died following heart failure at New Life Hospital here. He was 93.
Brig Sailo is survived by wife Thansiami, two sons, a daughter and grandchildren.
Family sources said Sailo breathed his last at 11:50am.
Sailo had been admitted the hospital’s ICU on December 27 last year. After he was released from the hospital, he went back to his Kanan home here.
Awarded Padma Shri in 1999, Sailo was born on January 1, 1922 and joined the Indian Army as a second lieutenant in 1942 and was the first Mizo to become a Brigadier in the Indian Army.
In 1974, he retired from the army and formed the Human Rights Committee to fight alleged human rights violation by army men when Mizoram’s insurgency was at its peak.
Sailo converted the organisation into a political party the next year and rechristened it as People’s Conference (PC) which was voted to power in 1978 defeating the Congress and he became the chief minister on June 2, 1978.
His government was dissolved and President’s Rule was imposed on November 10, 1978 due to a constitutional crisis.
He, however, returned to power in 1979 and remained chief minister till he was defeated by Congress led by Lal Thanhawla in 1984.
A man of integrity, Sailo was given the credit of initiating numerous developmental projects during his regime including hydel projects, rail communication, capital expansion plans and programme for self-sufficiency in food production.
He was the first recipient of Mizo Award, instituted by Mizoram’s largest vernacular daily Vanglaini in 2011.
He formed United Democratic Alliance with one other regional party Zoram Nationalist Party and a farmers’ organisation before the 2008 assembly elections, but did not win enough seats to form a government.
He was elected from his Aizawl West-II constituency and quit politics at the age of 92 after his term ended in 2014.
The party founded by him is led by his son Lalhmangaiha Sailo, a retired bureaucrat, since 2011. (UNI)
