Northeast’s Power Order: The 15 most powerful and influential people of the region in 2026

India Today NE presents the first-ever Power List of India’s eight northeastern states, a considered, occasionally unsettling assessment of the region’s 15 most influential figures. This is not a catalogue of offices occupied, but of consequences produced. It follows power as it actually operates: through ideas and institutions, culture and capital, reputation and resolve. Politicians and bureaucrats are, therefore, missing by design. The focus is on those who shape outcomes without formal authority, sometimes quietly, sometimes in full public view, but always with effect. These are individuals whose influence is earned over time, tested under scrutiny, and sustained by credibility rather than position. Together, they suggest a larger argument: that leadership from the Northeast need not conform to inherited templates. Some names will surprise, some portraits will unsettle, and the debate this list invites is intended to outlast the first reading.

Justice Ranjan Gogoi, 71 | Former Chief Justice of India | Assam

Justice Gogoi’s influence lies less in formal office than in moral and institutional authority. As the first from northeast to head India’s judiciary, he remains a point of reference for politicians and judges alike. His stewardship of epochal verdicts, most notably the Ram Janmabhoomi–Babri Masjid judgment, has turned him into a sought-after voice on constitutional questions. Power, in his case, endures beyond retirement.

Devajit Saikia, 56 | Secretary, BCCI | Assam

A former Ranji wicketkeeper-batsman from Guwahati, Saikia occupies a rare intersection of law, politics and sport. As Assam’s AG, he is the state’s top legal voice. As BCCI secretary, he helps run India’s most powerful sporting body. His proximity to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and rapport with ICC chairman Jay Shah amplify his reach, from Test matches in Guwahati to Assam’s presence in Indian cricket.

Ranjit Barthakur, 71 | Business Leader & Environmentalist | Assam

Ranjit Barthakur is a trusted interlocutor between power and capital. Chief ministers turn to him to court investors, quietly and effectively. Through the Balipara Foundation, he has also shaped environmental discourse in the Eastern Himalayas. His reach spans boardrooms, conservation circles and sport, often without public display.

Adil Hussain, 62 | Actor | Assam

Adil Hussain carries Assam and northeast onto international screens. With awards across borders and roles spanning art-house to mainstream cinema, he commands cultural influence. Politically aware yet accessible, he remains a thinking actor, respected for substance rather than celebrity.

Angaraag “Papon” Mahanta, 50 | Musician | Assam

Papon is Assam’s most recognisable cultural export to Bollywood. With a devoted home audience and national visibility, he has carried Assamese and northeastern musical traditions onto global stages. Influence here is cultural soft power—rooted in popularity, continuity and representation.

Patricia Mukhim, 72 | Journalist, Activist | Meghalaya

As editor of The Shillong Times and a Padma Shri awardee, Mukhim has long fused sharp reportage with unapologetic commentary on governance, rights, and gender in Meghalaya. Her columns and public interventions have positioned her as a vigilant sentry for the hill state, compelling politicians, bureaucrats, and civil society alike to reckon with questions they would rather avoid. Awards from across India have only formalised what readers already knew: her power rests in the pen, not the podium.

Mamang Dai, 68, Journalist | Author, Activist | Arunachal Pradesh

Mamang Dai is a poet, novelist, and journalist whose work has shaped contemporary writing from the Northeast. Her essays and reportage, alongside her poetry and fiction, engage closely with Arunachal Pradesh’s cultural memory, fragile ecology, and contested histories. Eschewing a career in the civil services, she chose journalism, writing for major national newspapers and working across print and broadcast media. Beyond the newsroom, her public roles with environmental organisations, journalists’ bodies, and state institutions have reinforced her standing as both a literary voice and a civic conscience of the region.

Rima Das, 43 | Filmmaker | Assam

Rima Das redefined how Assam appears in world cinema. Village Rockstars announced her as a global independent voice, earning international acclaim and an Oscar submission. Her influence lies in narrative authenticity, proving regional stories can travel without dilution.

Neidonuo Angami, 75 | Social Activist | Nagaland

In Nagaland’s turbulent public life, Neidonuo Angami helped turn women’s collective action into a stabilising force. As a co-founder of the Naga Mothers’ Association, she pushed society to confront addiction, violence, and cycles of bloodshed, most memorably through the “Shed No More Blood” campaign that gave moral voice to peace during years of insurgency and fragile ceasefires. Her influence lies in building institutions that endured beyond moments of crisis, anchoring women at the centre of conflict resolution, community welfare, and civic conscience in Nagaland.

Larsing Ming Sawyan, 46 | Entrepreneur | Meghalaya

From Ri Kynjai and The Centre Point to Shillong Lajong FC and NorthEast United FC, Sawyan has quietly woven tourism, hospitality, and football into Meghalaya’s growth narrative. As a sports administrator, he helped shape Shillong into a feeder for professional football while repositioning the Northeast as both a luxury destination and a live-concert hub. Today, his influence operates at the intersection of business, sport, and policy, where key decisions on leagues, festivals, and investments increasingly converge.

Omi Gurung, 39 | Fashion designer and social entrepreneur | Sikkim

Omi Gurung is influential because he positioned Sikkim, and the wider Northeast, at the forefront of India’s sustainable fashion conversation. Popularly known as the “Green Man of Sikkim,” he fused design with environmental activism, proving that fashion can be ethical, locally rooted, and globally relevant. Through his work and public advocacy, he amplified Himalayan ecological concerns, inspired youth-led sustainability movements, and established the Northeast as a serious contributor to India’s green economy and creative industries.

Arunoday Saha, 77 | Academician | Tripura

Arunoday Saha helped anchor Tripura’s intellectual and cultural stature through decades of work in education and literature. As the first vice-chancellor of Tripura University after its elevation to a central university, he guided the institution’s emergence as a regional centre for higher learning and research. His prolific writing—spanning economics and Bengali literature—expanded the state’s cultural reach and inspired readers beyond its borders. His contributions to academic leadership and literary discourse have been recognised with honours including the state’s highest civilian award and the Padma Shri for literature and education.

Mirabai Chanu, 31 | Weightlifter | Manipur

Saikhom Mirabai Chanu is an influential voice from the Northeast because she transformed a marginalised region’s sporting promise into global credibility. By turning personal adversity into Olympic-level success, she shifted national attention toward Manipur as a cradle of elite sport, inspired a generation of young athletes—especially women—and strengthened the case for sustained investment in sports infrastructure in the region. Her continued public role in Indian weightlifting has ensured that the Northeast is not just celebrated for talent, but represented in decision-making.

Lovlina Borgohain, 28 | Boxer | Assam

Lovlina Borgohain’s influence extends far beyond the ring. Emerging from a remote corner of Assam, she overturned geography, gender and expectation to win an Olympic medal. Her bronze at Tokyo did more than add to India’s tally, it altered the imagination of what is possible for women from the margins. In a state long absent from elite sport, she became proof that global success need not originate from privileged centres.

Lallianzuala Chhangte, 28 | Football player | Mizoram

A captain at club level and a national-team mainstay, he represents the Northeast’s transition from a feeder region to a leadership centre in Indian football. His success has redirected scouting toward Mizoram, normalised the presence of players from the region at the sport’s highest level, and inspired a new generation of young footballers who now see elite Indian football as an attainable destination rather than an exception.