Is Mizoram’s political comeback already written in the blue winter sky?
By NIRENDRA DEV
Aizwal, January 27, 2026 — Politics, Otto von Bismarck famously said, is “the art of the possible.” Republic Day 2026 in Aizawl offered a live demonstration of that maxim—far removed from Prussian diplomacy, yet deeply rooted in Mizoram’s shifting political mood.
At the Circular Lawn of Lok Bhavan, one figure drew disproportionate attention: MNF chief and former chief minister Zoramthanga. Long queues of ex-servicemen, bureaucrats, families, and young admirers lined up not for protocol—but for selfies. In politics, such unscripted moments often speak louder than opinion polls.
Defeated in 2023 by the newly formed Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), Zoramthanga today looks anything but politically diminished. Asked whether he was preparing for a 2028 comeback, he smiled and replied with practised ease: “Politics is the art of all possibilities.” When pressed on whether ZPM could survive till then amid a string of electoral reverses, the answer remained the same—measured, evasive, confident.
The substance lies beneath the rhetoric. The MNF’s tactical alliance with the Congress at the Lai Autonomous District Council—once unthinkable—signals a pragmatic recalibration. “It was dictated by numbers,” Zoramthanga explained, brushing aside ideological rigidity in favour of what he called “the larger interests of our people.” Bismarck would have approved.
By contrast, the ruling ZPM appears caught between promise and performance. Though it swept 27 of 40 Assembly seats in 2023, its recent record tells a harsher story: losses in Dampa by-election, setbacks across five autonomous councils, and growing scepticism ahead of the Aizawl Municipal elections.
ZPM Home Minister K. Sapdanga dismissed the pessimism, arguing that by-elections and council polls cannot predict the party’s long-term prospects. Yet public mood in Aizawl suggests otherwise. Educationist K. Lalrupui calls the ZPM’s governance trajectory a cautionary tale—“a case study in why political parties should not promise the moon.”
Republic Day 2026 in Aizawl may not have changed governments—but it revealed momentum. And in politics, momentum is often destiny.
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