AIZAWL: The dreaded Thangnang is back. The innocuous cinnamon beetle, a harbinger of famine in Mizoram , has started invading the western belt of the state adjoining Bangladesh and Tripura. Going by history that should spell doom for the political powers that be.There is nothing sinister initially about the outbreak of Thangnang. In fact the Mizos collect oil from the beetles to use as edible oil. People in Serhmun and surrounding villages in Mamit district have begun collecting Thangnang, resting on trees in swarms so vast that, sometimes, the branches break under their weight.However, the sighting of the Thangnang, among other insects and rodents, is ominously thought to indicate the imminent flowering of bamboo plants. And blooming of the bamboo plants is always the precursor to a famine.Mizoram suffers two kinds of famine every 48 years — Mautam and Thingtam. While Mautam is triggered by the flowering of the ‘Mautak’ (Melocanna baccifera) bamboo species, Thingtam follows the flowering of the ‘Rawthing’(Bambusa tulda) species of bamboo. The last time the state was in the grip of Thingtam was in 1977, which puts the date for the next Thingtam at 2025.The cinnamon beetles thrive on the nectar of the bamboo flower, while rodents consume the bamboo fruits. “Male rats have a cannibalistic streak. But when they find sufficient food in the form of bamboo fruits, they do not eat the young ones. And there’s an explosion in the number of rats,” Australian rodent specialist Ken Aplin, who visited Mizoram during the last Mautam in 2007-08, said.The multiplying rats and insects, in turn, ravage agricultural lands and destroy stocks of produce, causing a famine.In Mizoram, famines have dictated political fortunes. The Mizo National Front, the main opposition party in the state, came into existence as the Mizo National Famine Front in 1959, when the Mizo Hills braced for a Mautam. The alleged apathy on the part of the Centre and the then Assam government (when Mizoram was identified as the Mizo district under Assam) triggered an armed uprising by the outfit, led by the legendary Laldenga.The outfit continued its resistance for 20 years, at the end of which the state of Mizoram came into existence and the MNF became a political party and formed the state’s first government.