In the quiet hills of Mizoram, death brings a community together in a unique tradition of mourning. For three nights, neighbours and friends gather at the home of the bereaved to sing, comfort, and share grief under the guidance of the Young Mizo Association (YMA). On the first night, youth sing until dawn; the second night belongs to the elders, and the final night is again led by the youth. And on the third, the youth close the ritual with final songs, often followed by a small counselling session.
On the night of August 22, 2025, I found myself at one such gathering, where the YMA leaders turned the final minutes into a quiet counselling session for the young people assembled. The mood was reflective, the Chakma population and their growing achievements.
The context was the recent academic success of Dr. K. Joseph Chakma, a young man from Kamalanagar, the headquarters of the Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC). Having completed his MBBS from Zoram Medical College, the state’s only medical college, Dr. Chakma secured 525 out of 800 in the NEET-PG 2025, believed to be the highest among all Mizo state aspirants.
Dr. Chakma’s success was met with caution. “We may have no other choice but to be under the leadership of the Chakma if we do not work hard now,” the YMA leader said. The tone was not celebratory, but defensive.
This moment of unease is just the surface of a deeper, decades-old tension in Mizoram.
A Long, Contested History
In his paper “Evolution of the Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC) and its Constitutional Basis”, Prof. Jangkhongam Doungel traces the Chakmas’ connection to Mizoram to the British colonial period. In 1892, under an order by Sir Charles Elliot, Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, the Chakma-inhabited villages near Demagiri were transferred to the Lushai Hills, now Mizoram.
These villages were legally part of the Lushai Hills and placed under the Chief Commissioner of Assam. At the time, the area of present-day CADC was under the domain of Tlanglau chiefs, and the few Chakmas in the region were mostly engaged as agricultural labourers.
Political demand for autonomy began early. The Pawi-Lakher Regional Council (PLRC) was constituted in 1953 by the Assam Government and functioned until its trifurcation in 1972, which led to the formation of three Autonomous District Councils: Lai, Mara, and Chakma.
Despite this constitutional protection under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, the Chakma council has often been portrayed as an outsider entity. After the 1986 Mizoram Accord, Mizo nationalist leader Laldenga reportedly pressed the Indian government to dissolve the Chakma Council. Between 1986 and 2000, 21 private members’ resolutions were submitted in the state assembly, urging its dissolution.
Mizoram’s reservation framework under the State Technical Entrance Examination (STEE) Rules, 2016, classifies Scheduled Tribes into three categories. Category I includes Mizo and Zo ethnic groups and receives 95 percent of reserved seats. Category II, which includes Chakmas and other minorities, receives 4 percent. Category III, for children of central or state government employees, is allocated just 1 percent.
In 2017, Buddha Dhan Chakma, the lone Chakma minister in the Mizoram government, resigned, citing racial discrimination. He referenced four Chakma students who cleared the NEET exam but were denied medical college seats.
The prejudice isn’t just bureaucratic, it spills into public life. In 1995, Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) served “quit notices” to Chakmas who entered the state after 1950, giving them six months to leave.
In 2018, the NGO Coordination Committee, an umbrella group of Mizo civil society organisations, issued a diktat that political parties should not field Chakma candidates, claiming they were “Bangladeshi foreigners.” Despite this, major parties like the Congress, MNF, and BJP have fielded Chakma candidates.
Media representation further deepens their erasure. A Mizoram University study titled, “From Passive Audiences to Active Producers: A Case Study of Chakma Local Content Creators in Mizoram,” found that there is no traditional media, print, radio, or TV, produced from the Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC). The last known local newspaper, Swajak, ceased publication due to poor infrastructure and lack of funding.
Another study titled “Media and Marginality in Modern Mizoram” by scholars at Mizoram University examined the representation of minorities in the state’s print media. The researchers analyzed coverage in two of Aizawl’s most widely circulated newspapers, the English daily Newslink and the Mizo-language Vanglaini, during two purposively selected months: February 2019, which coincided with the Parliament elections, and March 2021, a year after the resolution of the long-standing Bru-Mizo conflict. The aim was to assess how minorities were represented during politically and socially significant moments.
The study found that news about minorities was largely absent from both dailies. Coverage of the Chakmas, Brus, and other minority communities remained minimal, especially outside the context of conflict. The findings revealed that minorities in Mizoram, already marginalized in terms of social and political power, were also systematically ignored by the state’s media. Since nearly all media houses were based in Aizawl, the administrative and cultural capital of Mizoram, the perspectives and realities of communities living outside the urban centre, such as the Chakmas in the southern Chakma Autonomous District Council, remained largely invisible.
Studies by scholars such as Partha S. Ghosh and B.G. Verghese point out that the Chakma population grew faster than the state’s average in the decades after 1951, fuelling demographic anxiety. In response, some Chakma leaders have even called for Union Territory status, a demand viewed by Mizos as threatening to state integrity.
A Hope Dimmed by Prejudice
In this climate, the success of individuals like Dr. K. Joseph Chakma becomes political. Their achievements, instead of being a cause for collective pride, become flashpoints of fear.
In one meme shared on the Facebook page Zo Video Viral, a manipulated photo of Joseph Chakma was posted, where another face was superimposed onto his image. The post quickly garnered over 1,000 likes and 200 comments. Members of the Chakma community responded swiftly and strongly, condemning the mockery and standing in support of Joseph. One user wrote,
“It seems some of our Mizo friends are taking this matter lightly, as I have seen two or three similar posts. Please do not make fun of such things. We, the Chakma people, are also Indian citizens living in Mizoram, not foreigners or from Bangladesh. So why should we be mocked? This is about a competitive exam that someone has successfully passed, an achievement that deserves respect. I know, and everyone knows, that the Mizo community is admired across India for their honesty, for example, selling goods on the roadside without anyone guarding them. This honesty is admirable and shows your good values. But it hurts when Chakma people are insulted. Are we not human too? Why should we be treated differently? We are all human beings with equal rights, knowledge, and capabilities. You have great knowledge, and so do we. So why make fun of someone’s success? Is it because of jealousy? We must respect and support each other and grow together.”
On the one hand, the Mizos, as a minority population in the country, express concerns about preserving their identity amid perceived challenges. On the other hand, for communities like the Chakmas, who have lived within Mizoram’s borders since the state’s formation, the question of where and when they will truly find a sense of belonging remains unanswered. In a land they have called home for generations, what does it truly mean to belong?
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Please, do not undermine the cohesion of Mother Hill sons, we are all High Landers, we love Hill’s.