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Mizoram (India)

The Mizo People

by António Martins

In Smith (1975b) (p. 303, #22) there is a flag of the Mizo people (the inhabitants of Mizoram). The Flag is horizontal white-blue with a red disk in the middle.
Jarig Bakker, 7 June 1999

In October 1998, Jaume mentioned that India's Mizo people and Myanmar's Chin people were the same. Mr Pasch once sent me a number of Myanmar independentist flags, which he had found on a 1975 article about Burmese flags, and those included a flag of the Chin people which actually is the one found in Smith (1975b). He also added that the people were also called the Zomi and the country would be called Zozam, were it to gain independence.
Thanh-Tâm Lê, 7 June 1999

The Mizo people
Zale'n-gam supranational flag
Mizoram: a dubious flag
Young Mizo Association
Zoram Nationalist Party
Menashe (Manmasseh) people

See also:

Mizoram: a dubious flag

by António Martins

Indian states officially do not have flags of their own, except for Jammu and Kashmir. However, some unofficial flags have been reported. The flag shown here has been reported by Whitney Smith in the Flag Bulletin.
Jaume Ollé, 23 November 1996

We do not have our own flag or any connection with Ceylon or Iceland. Our original traditional colours are red, white and black, and these colours are used by some voluntary organisations within Mizoram. But they do not represent our whole state or the whole community.
Van Neih Tluanga, Mizoram, 28 May 2000

Mizoram is probably a wrongly reported flag. I see that the Iceland flag was also reported like the one of Ceylon because the captions "Ceylon" and "Iceland" confused the translator. Mizoram was populated by Mizos, that were ethnically close to Chins. Perhaps "Iceland" can be confused with "Chin Land" for a European translator and reported and finally wrongly attributed. But in all, the national colors of the Chins are the R-W-B. Seems that the current colors of the Mizos are the green and the red.
Jaume Ollé, 8 June 1999

In Flags of Aspirant Peoples this flag is labelled as "Mizoram (Mizos, Zomis or "Chins"). The flag might be associated with a movement and not with the Mizoram state - as the caption of the chart seems to say. Encyclopaedia Universalis says that 'Mizo' is a generic term for several Tibeto-Burmese tribes, including the Lushai who settled in what is now Mizoram. 90% of the Lushai were converted by Baptist missionaries. This may explain the cross on the flag.
Ivan Sache, 16 Sep 1999

I contacted a high official in the Government of Mizoram, who declines to be identified publicly, and was informed that the white-blue flag with the red sun was a flag used by the Mizo National Front from 1961 until 1986. Prior to the formation of Mizo National Front, which had as its goal uniting all 12 Mizo tribes in the independent state of Greater Mizoram, that organization existed under the names:

Mizo Union 1947
Mizo Cultural Society 1955
Mautam Front 1956
Mizo National Famine Front 1960

In 1961 it assumed the name of Mizo National Front and initiated the armed struggle against Indian Government. MNF was outlawed in 1967, but entered negotiation with the Indians in 1971, which led to compromises on both sides and creation of the Union Territory in 1972. MNF became a political party and held power several times, bringing statehood to Mizoram in 1986. It exercises the power in the State currently, inviting heavy criticism from other segments of Mizo political spectrum for selling out ideas of independence for some cushy positions in the administrative bureaucracy.

My source cannot confirm positively the existence of the "Icelandic" flag, but taking a look at it, (I sent him the image) is not excluding entirely that it was used early by the Mizo Union in late forties and fifties. The colors are the same as chosen for the flag of MNF, and the cross is a popular symbol of Christianity (beside the "Star of David") among overwhelmingly Christian Mizos - Presbyterians, Baptists, Roman Catholics and members of the Salvation Army. Additionally, the group which split from MNF in 1997, and adheres to old demands of independence for Greater Mizoam, Zoram Nationalist Party - ZNP, has a white flag with red sun in the middle, having twelve rays for 12 Mizo tribes.
Chrystian Kretowicz, 15 June 2003

Zale'n-gam supranational flag

by Nicholas Rucks

I saw yesterday in a program called "Quest for the Lost Tribes" the flag of a people called the "Manmasseh" or "Manasseh". The program reported these people live in the states of Manipur and Mizoram near the India-Burma border and they allege that they belong to the tribe of Manasseh which is one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel. According to the program they are trying to create a sovereign Israelite state in that area. They display a flag that has three horizontal stripes: Green, Red, and Blue. The red stripe is double the width of the other two stripes. At the center of the red stripe there is a blue Star of David on a white background. The white background has the same contour as the star. The size seems to be 2:3
Victor Quinones, 17 Apr 2000

The white background of the Star of David does not quite touch the green and blue stripes. The flag was designed for a proposed independent Manmasseh state which is called Zaleg B'en or something like that. The Star of David was selected because it was a neutral symbol among the different sub-tribes that compose the Manmasseh or Manasseh people.
Victor Quinones, 19 Apr 2000

The flag presented above as Manmasseh (?) people has nothing to do with the Menashe People of neither Mizoram, Manipur or Chin State. The television report was totally mistaken, most likely out of ignorance, attributing that flag to Menashe people. This flag is, certainly now, the flag of Zale'n-gam, the supranational flag of Kuki people from Mizoram, Manipur, Chin State of Myanmar and northern Bangladesh. This fact was confirmed by the extensive correspondence with the elders of the Kuki nation and other sources in both, Mizoram and Manipur.
Chrystian Kretowicz, 14 October 2004

Young Mizo Association

from YMA site

The website for the Young Mizo Association displays their flag, and states:

Young Mizo Association (YMA) is a non-political, Voluntary organization, established on the 15th June 1935 at Aizawl, Mizoram. ... YMA is an all-India organization with Branches at Mizoram, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura. It is registered under the Societies Act (Act XXI of 1960)

contributed by Michael Smuda, 25 June 2001

Zoram Nationalist Party

by Jaume Ollé

Source: Flag Report

The Zoram Nationalist Party, which was formed in 1997 after the split from the Mizo National Front, uses twelve-pointed star (or sun) as its electoral symbol, so it is very probable that the flag is already adopted as Jaume shows. I tried to get info from the party HQ, but so far to no avail.

Chrystian Kretowicz, 2 October 2003

Some time ago I posted a image of the supposed Zoram Nationalist Party: white flag with a red sun like a star of 12 rays. The image was a reconstruction according to a written description researched by Chrystian Kretowicz. An article about this topic was published in issue 36 of Flag Report. Later, while I was printing the list of political symbols in India, I noticed that the ZNP has as its symbol a red sun without rays. I found a photo of the flag that is very similar to the Japanese national flag but square: a white flag with a red sun (1/3), no rays.
Notice that some parties in India have two flags: the party flag and the electoral flag, both similar but the latter one bearing the election symbol, while the party flag does not always have the electoral symbol on it. It is also possible that the party changed its electoral symbol.

Jaume Ollé, 11 August 2004