Agartala, Jan 24 (UNI) The tensed situation gradually turned volatile with the decision
of settling 34000 odd displaced Brus in Tripura who had fled from western parts of
Mizoram in 1997, as citizens forum of non-tribals Nagarik Suraksha Mancha (NSM)
raised the demand of similar package and benefits for the displaced non-tribals here
in their homeland.
Soon after the announcement of the decision of Bru settlement in Tripura, NSM
has launched massive agitation from last week to press for their 11 –point charter
of demands including pushing back Brus living in the camps of Kanchanpur and
Panisagar to their homeland Mizoram and ensure the settlement of non-tribals with
similar package who were displaced due to violence and perpetration of Brus in last
20 years in their homeland here.
The NSM became hostile on BJP led government at the centre and Tripura and
accused them of ‘anti-Bengali’.
The NSM leaders alleged that BJP government most illegally decided government
sponsored settlement of Brus in other state because Brus did not want to go back
home.
Mizo community was not accepted them because of previous criminal records of
Brus despite both the communities belong to tribal but Tripura government without
thinking the future implications of non-tribals whimsically accepted them here, said
NSM leaders.
“The Bangalis are the biggest victim of partisan and subsequent socio-political
development in India. Thousands of Bangalis had to leave their huge properties
because of religious persecution. They have been marginalizing in West Bengal
due to pressure from Hindi speaking communities. In Assam, Bangalis are suffering
because of language and in Tripura Bangalis are facing crisis due to baseless
arguments of a section of tribal leaders. Unfortunately, Biplab Kumar Deb led
government here has fallen prey into it,” said a senior leader of NSM Bhaskar
Sharma.
The NSM held a massive public meeting at Dasda Durga Reang Para on 124th
birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose where representatives of Rastriya
Satkatha Samaj and Bangla Pakshya Kolkata addressed the gathering calling upon
the government to reconsider the decision and help the indigenous non-tribals with
decent package like Brus who had been victim of Bru perpetration and tribal
insurgency over past three decades.
The NSM president Ranjit Nath alleged that in the recent strike called by Joint
movement committee of Bru, altogether 92 non-tribal families have been displaced.
Houses were ransacked; properties were set on fire and cattle were hijacked. Earlier,
also in several occasion more than 6000 families of Kanchanpur and Panisagar were
victim of Brus attack but nothing was compensated yet.
“This recent displacement of about 450 people had added up the figures to 6000
such displaced Bengali people over the years in the area —since the time refugees
took shelter in the refugee camps. More than 25,000 such non-tribal families in
different parts of Tripura were displaced in their home land. Another, 9000 families
were displaced from bordering locations of the state because of erection of barbed
wire fencing but none them were given settlement and financial package for survival
what Brus were offered,” Nath stated.
He apprehended the decision taken in New Delhi to settle the Brus in Tripura would
affect the entire demographic profile of the area and adjoining assembly constituencies,
which will ultimately, forced the government to increase the tribal reserve seats from
20 in 60 –members’ assembly and that would further marginalised the non-tribal’s
rights in their homeland.
The only solution to this problem is to send them back to Mizoram according to the
four-corner agreement signed in March 2018, Nath said adding that to enhance security
of the non-tribal families residing near Bru camps, announce settlement package for
Bengali displaced people and to take steps for cohesive development of Tripura.
An agreement signed in New Delhi on January 16 last stated that those Bru tribals
among the 34,000 migrants unwilling to go back to Mizoram would be rehabilitated in
Tripura under Rs 600 crore packages, as proposed by Tripura Chief Minister Biplab
Kumar Deb that made Bangalis unhappy with BJP.
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