‘This is home, but are we citizens?’ The pain of Mizoram’s Gorkha community

On August 1, 2023, news surfaced concerning the passing of Prem Nath Upadhya, a 69-year-old from the Gorkha, also called Gorkhali, community of Mizoram, specifically from Ainawn Veng in Aizawl. The report, initially disseminated through a local news outlet, caught people’s attention. While Upadhya’s demise was attributed to a stroke, it was the subsequent burial and funeral proceedings that truly captured people’s attention.

In Mizoram, it is customary that any death in a locality is announced via a local information microphone by the Young Mizo Association, the state’s apex NGO. The YMA also precedes to conduct the......