HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF TRIPURA :

CHAKLA - ROSANABAD : The present size of Tripura was not always like this. From the last period of the Mughal rule till the time of Indian independence (15^th August, 1947) it was a vast land of plains and hills. The eastern hilly part i.e. the present position was called Hilly Tripura. The western plain part up to the Bank of Meghna river, was called the Chakle-Roshanabad or plain Tripura.

The last king of Tripura- Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Bahadur, as luck would have it, suddenly died a premature death at the age of 39 on the 17^th May,1947. His son Yuvaraj Kirit Bikram was at that time a minor boy. In this period of vacuum in the royal palace, Chakle Roshnabad the part and parcel of Tripura was snatched away by Pakistani Forces to be added to East Pakistan (which is now Bangladesh). The subjects of Chakle- Roshnabad were predominantly (97%) Bengalees and mostly Hindus. They became victims of tortures and religious persecution .Such misfortune also came down on the Buddhists (chakma, Magh etc) of hilly Chattogram district. Being non-muslim, the district should have remained with India than ceded to Pakistan. 

Chakle-Roshanabad having an area of 600 sq. miles, was the only source of money for hilly Tripura. In those days hilly Tripura was full of forests and was not productive. The revenue collected from Chakle-Roshanabad was the only source of income for the royal family. During the reign of the last king Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Bahadur, the revenue income from Chakle-Roshnabad was about 13 Lakhs. And this money helped the king modernize his capital Agartala.

UNAKOTI AND PILAK : Before 300 years or before the North Tripura District was ruled by the agents of Mughal emperor under the Syllet Governor called Kankoi or KARKON. and did not belong to Tripura. Fatikrey, an old famous market of the district was named after one of those karkans, Fatic Roy. The stone carvings and figures of UNAKOTI hill of Kailasahar evokes historical and tourist interest. Historian Dr. Nihar Ranjan Roy, in his book of ‘Bangalir Itihas’ wrote that Unakoti was the Shiva-Piligrimage of Pal Dynasty (770-810 AD).
Similarly, Pilak lying at southern part of the state also has archeological value. There are some stone images of Vishnu, Laxmi, Durga and other Deities. Historians say that these stone image were sculpted in the 8^th century.

TRIPURA LIES IN THE PAW OF BENGAL : In 1874, 12 police station areas of Sylhet were cut from Bengal and was joined to Assam as a new District named Cachar. Now this Cachar is divided into 3 districts such as - Shilchar (Cahar), Hylakandi and Karimganj. This means that besides the 109 kms boundary with Mizoram, (present) Tripura has its 90% boundary perimeter with Bangladesh and Karimganj i.e. bengalee inhabitant areas. So, Tripura is the eastern remote area of greater Bengal. In old days, it was named as SRI BHUMI. 


RULE OF KING OF MANIKYA DYNASTY IN TRIPURA : About 550 years ago, this hilly Tripura was ruled by the hindu bengalee king of Bengal. After being driven by famine from Burma ( Mayanmar), some tribals under the leadership of Mouchang-Fa entered into this SRI BHUMI. A battle was fought against the intruders. Later the bengalee king allowed the homeless refugee tribal people to reside in the southern part of the land. There gradually developed a friendship between the bengalees and the tribals. And later, the descendants of Mouchang-Fa established the Manikya Dynasty in Tripura. 

The discovery of a coin of 1464 AD of the reign of king Ratnya Manikya proves that in the second half of 15^th century Ratna Manikya ruled Tripura. He is the oldest historical king of Manikya Dynasty. The tales of about 140 kings before Ratnya Manikya are imaginary and have no historical value.

ROLE OF BENGALEE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE : Being a part of greater Bengal, the tales of the kings of Tripura which is named as Rajmala - was written in Bangla. The official language of the state was Bangla. Because since time immemorial, Bangla was the medium of expression of the common people of the kingdom and the same language was the only means of link between the different dialect-speakers.
One of the signs of bengalee culture is to build Kali Temples in bengalee inhabited areas. 500 years ago, in 1501, king Dhanya Manikya built the temple of Tripureswari at Matabari, Udaipur. It is said to be a part of 51 holy piths. Chandi Mandap at Amarpur, Kali Mandir at Kashba are also very ancient. There are at least one Kali Mandir at every remarkable inhabitant of Tripura.
THE CAPITALS OF TRIPURA : It was said earlier that the leader Mauchang-Fa and his followers had entered into Tripura from Burma (Mayanmar) and were allowed to reside in the southern part of the state. There is a ruined sign of palace at Rajnagar, Belonia, South Tripura. Perhaps it was their first capital. Later on , the kings had chosen a suitable place at Rangamati which is now known as Udaipur. To be saved from the attacks of Arakans, Amar Manikya ( 1577-86) took his capital to Amarpur which is 27 km east of Udaipur. Besides it, Udaipur (now the district HQ of South Tripura) was the capital of Tripura since 1500 AD to 1760 AD. Thus the place has a very great historical value . it is famous for Tripureswari Temple (1501), Jagannath Temple (1661), Shiva Temple (1651), Krishna Temple (1668) etc. More over, the plot taken from the reign of Govinda Manikya (1660-76) , Ravindra Nath Tagore wrote his famous novel RAJARSHI and play BISARJAN . These added some extra brightness to Bhubaneshwari Temple.

In 1761, king Krishna Manikya transfered his capital to old Agartala (Khayerpur). Finally, king Radhakishore Manikya built a beautiful palace at Agartala in 1901 in 1 sq km land with twin Dighis, gardens and water flowers spending 10 lakh rupees. It is needless to say that the money was realized from the subjects of Chakle-Roshanabad.

RABINDRANATH TAGORE AND TRIPURA : The royal family of Tripura had a very high regard for art, culture and literary activity. King Birchandra Manikya (1862-96) was charmed by the verse "Bhagna Hriday" composed by young Rabindra Nath Tagore. Tripura gave the first royal facilitation to the poet before the country and the world could know him. The last king of Tripura, Bir Bikram Manikya Bahadur (1923-47) offered "Bharat-Bhaskar" title to Tagore in 1941.
At the request of Rabindra Nath Tagore king Radhakishore Manikya (1896-1909) helped Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose in building the Basu Vijnaan Mandir. King Birebdra Kishore Manikya (1909-23) gave a cheque of Rs. 5,000/- to Rabindra Nath Tagore to build an hospital at Shantiniketan.

Several times, Rabindranath came to Tripura. He gave the names of Ujjayanta Prasad, Malancha Nivas and Nirmahal etc., several remarkable buildings.

TRIPURA JOINED IN INDIA IN 1949 : Through the Tripura was called an independent kingdom, really it was not independent. During last part of Mughal Empire, the kings of Tripura (hill Tripura) had to pay elephant tax i.e. supplying a good number of elephants per year to the emperor of Delhi. On the other hand, the plain part of Tripura i.e. Chakle-Roshanabad had gone under the control of Nawab of Bengal during regin of king Dharma Manikya (1713-29). The king became a Zamindar paying Rs. 50,000/- as revenue to the Nawab. During the British rule everything of Tripura (plain & hill) was under the control of the British. Thus the state was a part of India govt. On 17^th May 1947, the last king of Tripura Bir Bikram Manikya had passed away. Seeing the political situation of Indian sub-continent, the king in his life time, decided that Tripura would join India. But Pakistani forces snatched Chakle-Rosanabad the food plate of Tripura at the time of partition. Hill Tripura had no means of income to run the state. And thus the kingdom of hilly (i.e. present) Tripura officially joined India on 15^th October 1949.

SITUATION IN TRIPURA ON OR BEFORE 15^TH OCT,1949 : There was only 107 km muddy road from Sunamura to Simna via the capital Agartala. The king or the royal officers would go to sub-divisional HQs through ASSAM BENGAL RAILWAY of british/ India, and then either by boat in the river or on the back of elephants or "on foot" to the destination. Except Amarpur and Udaipur, all other sub-division towns viz-Dharmanagar, Kailasahar, Kamalpur, Khowai, Agartala, Sonamura, Belonia and Sabroom were grown up at the boundary of present Bangladesh keeping in mind the nearness of the said railways. And the rest hilly tripura was covered with deep forests. It may mentioned here that three people were killed by the attack of wild elephant at Collegetilla, Agartala in 1952. This shows how remote the hilly Tripura area was. 

THE PRESENT TRIPURA FROM 1949 AND ONWARDS
1949 TO 1951 : Under the inspiration of the communist party, some tribal youths became armed and started killing-kidnapping the innocent bengalees. This was done to unite tribal peoples on anti-bengali sentiment……and finally to established a bengaleeless communist area. This is known in the history of Tripura as BANGAL KHEDAO ANDULAN (Bengalee driving away movement). This whimsical, unlawful and unreasonable movement came to an end on 1951.The militants became gentlemen under the shelter of Tripura Upajati Ganamukti Parishad. 

1952 TO 1977 (25 years) : At the end of first five year plan (1952-57), Tripura enjoyed the 198 km Assam-Agartala Road and 133 Km Agartala Sabroom Road. The Sub-Division towns were linked with these two roads. 17 block offices were started. Mini new markets/ towns grew up. Agartala Town bus service was started in 1963. NF Railway was extended to Dharmanagar in 1964. Agartala water supply plant was commissioned in 1966. The state hospital named after Govinda Bhallab Panth was established in 1961. All India Radio, Agartala was started in 1967. Tripura Public Service Commission (TPSC) was formed in 1972 and in the same year ONGC started drilling for natural gas. Tripura Road Transport Corporation (TRTC) formed in 1974 and in 1976 Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE) started its work. Thus a socio-economical synthesis accelerated the progress of the state in education, culture and living standard resulted in peace and prosperity. 

POLITICAL UPGRADATION : On 15^th Oct.1949, when Tripura merged with India. It was treated as a C category state in the Indian Constitution till 1950. The 1^st general election was held in the state in 1952 and an electoral college of 30 members was formed. In 1956, the state was treated as an union territory. Tripura Legislative Assembly was formed in 1963 and in 1972 Tripura became a full-fledged state with 60 seats in the assembly. There was one district and 10 sub-divisions in the state. Later three districts were formed.

1978 TO 2003 (25 years) : During the internal emergency of 22 months (1975-77) the people of Tripura had a very bad experience. A tremendous anti-congress sentiment swept the state which aided the communists to power and with only 4 seats going to the Tripura Upajati Yuba Samiti (TUJS) in the elections. The Congress got none.

Here it should be mentioned that to capture the Tribal vote, Congress party under the leadership of the then chief Minister Sachindralal Sinha inspired the educated tribal youth of Tripura to form a new political party titled TUJS in 1967. Later the party remained as a counter to another tribal group called Upajati Ganamukti Parisad which was guided by the communists. In the 1978 election, TUJS also entered the Tripura Legislative Assembly for the first time.

TUJS would not go against the Tribal interest. CPI(M) utilized the scope. Left front leaders and ministers started propaganda against the bengalees telling false stories of exploiting the tribals. They did so to strengthen the tribal sentiment on anti-bengali issue to materialize the communist plan of 1949-51. They gave stress to land restoration act 187 and passed the Tripura Tribal Area Autonomous District Council (TTAADC popularly known as ADC) Bill in 1979. 

Having a congenial atmosphere,. TUJS leader Mr. Bijoy Kr. Hrankhal went underground and formed a militant group titled Tripura National Volunteers (TNV) in 1978. TNV started killing innocent bengalees. On the 16^th Feb,1980, TNV leader B.K. Hrankhal met the then left front chief minister Nripen Chakraborty in the Civil Secretariat, Agartala. Following which in the 1^st week of June (1980) TUJS called a market strike. In this period, 6^th to 9^th June there was a historical mass killing of bengalees by TNV and TUGMP (Tripura Upajati Gana Mukti Parisada). 

TTAADC was formed in 1982 according to the 5^th and 7^th schedule of Indian constitution. Tripura is a mixed area of Bengalees and Tribals. There was no compact area of tribals in Tripura. Bengalees are the son of the soil as Tripura lies in the paw of Bengal. There are 19 clans of tribals in Tripura. Some came 500 years ago from Burma (Mayanmar), some others came from nearest provinces for livelihood. Such as …. Lusai from Mizoraam, Kashia from Meghalaya, Lepcha from Sikkim, Bhutia from Bhutan. Chakma, Mag etc. came from the hill tracts of Chittagong and the Garos came from the hill tract of Maimansingh. Santhal, Munda, Orang, Bhil etc came from Madhya Pradesh, Chattishgarh, Bihar, Orissa, to work in the tea gardens, brick fields and road & bridge constructions. Their history is only 100 to 150 years old. 

It is told earlier that there no compact tribal area in Tripura. So the 6^th schedule of Indian Constitution is only applicable in Assam, not in Tripura. But, the political leaders of left and even the right, thought of their tribal vote bank only and did not think of the future of the bengalees in particular and Tripura as a whole. They amended the Indian constitution and implemented the 6^th schedule in the ADC of Tripura in 1985. Unreasonably out of vested political interest.


TTAADC (TRIPURA TRIBAL AREA AUTONOMUS DISTRICT COUNCIL) IN BRIEF

Sl.No		Items	Tripura	ADC Area	Percentage
1.		Area	10,491.69 sq km	7,132.56 sq km	68.10%
2.		no of revenue villages	872	462
			Population (1991 census)
3.		i. Tribal	8,53,345	6,62,703
		ii. Non-Tribal	19,03,860	2,24,597
		iii. Total	27,57,205	8,87,300
4.	Block		40	17
5.	Gaon-panchayat		968	428(vill. Com.)

The afore-cited simple statistics shows how unreasonably the TTAADC was formed. It's map shows that the ADC area is vast and at a stretch. But the non-ADC area is like a small island in the ocean of ADC area. These prove the step-motherly behavior of the left and right wing political parties depriving the non-tribal people i.e. bengalees.

SOME OTHER POINTS OF VESTED POLITICAL INTERESTS :

1. Chakma refugees (53,155) of Chittagong Hill tracts were added to the tribal population of Tripura in 1991 census. And it increased the facilities of Tribals by 2%. The Chakma refugees all returned to their homeland after a treaty with the Bangladesh Govt. in Nov 2^nd , 1997. But the said 2% more facilities still exists.

2. The desi Tripura Laskar Community had been struck off from the list of tribals (ST) in Tripura by an order of the honorable Supreme court in 1985. They constitute about 6% of the total population of Tripura.

Watch the Following Census Reports :

Census 1981 : Sch. Tribes of Tripura - 28.44 %

Census 1991 : Sch. Tribes of Tripura - 30.95 %

Where does the Percentage of Laskar Lie ? Who will answer ?

3. It is said that after 1971 Bangladesh war many bengalees have entered into Tripura. If so, the percentage of Sch. Tribes of Tripura should decrease with a great difference to consequent census reports. But the census report says

Census 1971 : Sch. Tribes of Tripura - 28.90 %

Census 1981 : Sch. Tribes of Tripura - 28.44 %

Both the Percentages are almost the same . these does not prove the propaganda that Bengalee intruders after 1971 from Bangladesh have rushed into Tripura which decreased the percentage of the tribal people remarkably.

THE AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE AFORE-SAID POLITICAL STEPS:-

1. Terrorism inspired :
   Though after 1978, Tripura has seen the external developments as following:-
   
   a) The N.F Railway line from Dharmanagar has been extended to Manughat (66 km in total)
   b) Gas Thermal Electricity production was started in Baramura and Rukhia
   c) Tripura University started it's work w.e.f 2nd November 1987
   d) Local (Bengali & Kokborak) programme telecasting started from Agartala Kendra of Doordarshan
   e) Maharaja Bir Bikram Stadium at Collegetilla and Dasharath Deb sports complex (stadium) at Badharghat were inaugurated in 1995 and 2000 respectively.
   Moreover outwardly many roads, buildings have been constructed, many modern facilities are introduced.
   
   Yet Tripura is not in peace now, law & order of the state is disturbed. Security of public life has been lost because terrorism has been inspired since last 25 years by the administration or political agents.
   
   As for example :-
   (i) In 12th August 1988, in New Delhi - Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and TNV leader Bijoy Kumar Hrankhawal had signed a pact of understanding. As a result of it, on the 10th September 1988, officially TNV surrendered it's weapons at Govindabari , North Tripura . About 800 volunteers (terrorists) surrendered and enjoyed the govt facility in various ways.
   Ignoring the population ratio, 3 extra seats of Tripura assembly had been declared as ST reserved. Thus the ST reserved assembly have gone to 20 from 17 in number.
   But the real extremists have remained underground under the title of NLFT (National Liberation Front of Tripura)
   
   (ii) In the same way on September, 1993, 739 ATTF terrorists surrendered to the chief minister Dasharath Deb. This was also an other pact of understanding.
   30 TTAADC seats were constituted of which 21 reserved for ST, 7 unreserved and 2 nominated by the governor. By the said understanding ST reserved seats were increased by 4. Thus, ST reserved seats became 25 and unreserved seats became 3 in number.
   Both the two aforesaid pacts suppressed the political rights of the non-tribals i.e of the bengalees who are the majority in the population. Yet again some part of ATTF remained underground and continued it's terrorists activity.
   
   (iii) These farcical surrender dramas of the armed tribals (extremists) were going on in a never-ending process, such as:-
   On 20^th January 1995, 159 TTVF ST terrorists surrendered at Maithunglung in South Tripura. On the 18^th February 43 SENGKRAK extremists surrendered at Daluma at Amarpur. 170 TTVF workers surrendered in the Gandachena sub-division. 102 armed tribal youths surrendered at Mandai block office on 14^th February 1996. Again 45 SENGKRAK volunteers surrendered at Gandachena on the 12^th April of that year and on the 19^th June 47 ATTF terrorists surrendered at Kamalpur. On 31^st March 1999 another 11 extremists surrendered. On the 30^th April of that year, 19 NLFT workers surrendered, on 10^th June 49 terrorists surrendered to Assam Rifle Officers and 19 ATTF extremists surrendered on 25^th June. On 4^th September 2000, 67 terrorists surrendered to Assam Rifles. On 24^th May 2001, 18 extremists surrendered at the Kawamara camp of Assam Rifles
   
   And alongside these meagre percentages of the terrorists surrendering drama, thousands of tribals youths are killing, kidnapping, torturing and collecting unlawful taxes from the common man, mostly the non-tribals. These very extremists are being rewarded in this way for decades after decades. Tribals are getting 100% govt awarded benefits in TTAADC area (because the 6^th schedule of Indian Constitution was implemented in 1985) and 31% benefit in non-ADC area. Yet it is propagated that tribals are exploited and they have gotten nothing. How ironical it is!
2. Surrendered terrorists in the police Deptt and administration :
   Some of the surrendered terrorists/ extremists are employed in police/ security force and others are posted in the administration.
   
   As a result of which :-
   The chief secretary of the state government of Tripura said that there are 500 over ground helping hands of the banned terrorists groups due which the security forces either get killed and loose their weapons or are unsuccessful against the terrorists in their operations. The over ground hands lying in the security forces, often flee away with the govt arms or help their terrorist friends attack the security camps, causing causality to the security forces, and providing a weapons source for the terrorists.
3. The public life now in Tripura :
   (a) The common people of Tripura have to travel contending with the inconvenience caused by security checking hassles in the main roads. Thus communications, transports, trades and commerce are badly disturbed. Administrative Area has been reduced to 20% of the state only, the rest 80% area (i.e. the ADC Area and it's adjacent lands) is in the hands of the left or right cadres, that is the armed Tribal youths (Terrorists/ Extremists ). They are running parallel governments. So, Education, Health Service etc govt. welfare programme are beyond the reach of the common people in those areas. People are suffering badly for want of work, money and food. They can not even sell their homemade products to buy other essential commodities. In this case, both tribals and non-tribal bengalees are suffering.
   
   (b) There are 19 clans of tribals in Tripura. A few clans of them (4 to 5) can speak KOKBORAK, others do not. Reang and Chakmas (The 2nd & 3rd highest groups among tribals ) have their mother-tongue called BRU and CHAKMA respectively. They and other (10 to 12) clans are suppressed by KOKBORAK (It may be mentioned that Bangla and Kokborak are two official language of Tripura).
   
   (c) Most of the tribals are hindus. One of the extremists groups of Tripura wants to preach christanity among the public at gun point. Buddhist and hindus beliefs and culture are at stake. In the Sajek Hill 159 Reang (hindu) volunteers were killed by their christian fellow members on the issue of religion.
   
   (d) There is a continuos fight between the two main Banned Terrorists groups viz ATTF and NLFT for expanding the rule-area of each group. Thus both tribals and particularly non-tribals bengalee people are being killed.
4. A False propaganda in the International Level :
   The over-ground hands of the (Banned) Terrorist / Extremists of Tripura are very strong. Each of the main two groups has a political party to propagate in favour of them.
   
   The root lies very deep. These armed Tribal youths are not at all patriots. Their activities cannot be called insurgency. Because, they kill innocent common Bengalis and tribal people. They have blocked the development of remote areas i.e. Education, Health Care and ruined the local economy based on production, and selling. All these are going on to serve the political interest of each group, not for peace and prosperity of the common people of the urban and remote areas of the state.
   Former IPFT (Indegenous People's  Front of Tripura)leader and standing member of ADC Mr Sridam Debbarma in an International conference organised by UNO in Durban in South Africa in the month of August 2001, said that the situation is very bad and depriving for the tribals of Tripura. He requested the International Forum to look in to the matter. He accused the hindu bengalees for the cause of the distress of the tribals.
   
   In the same way, INPT President Mr Bijoy Kumar Hrankhawal ( An MLA of Legislative Assembly, Tripura ) also utilized the 20^th session of the 'Working Group of Indigenous Population' held at Geneva on 22-26 July 2002.
   
   He praised the banned terrorists groups as patriots, concocted stories as against the real history of Tripura to convince the International World against the bengalees to materialize the hidden political interest of his party.
   
   So, all the people of Tripura, India and the world as well should realize what is really going on in Tripura, What is the fact and what is the history and what is the present situation and who are responsible? The well-wisher of humanity , and intellectual humanitarians should go deep into the matter.