Twipra (Tripura) is currently one of the small, but beautiful North-Eastern States of India. Agartala is the capital of Tripura, which is about 579 kms away from Guwahati and 2,757 kms from the national capital, New Delhi. It is, perhaps, the only State in the world in the 21st Century whose aborigines in the 2nd half of the 20th Century had been transformed from being a numerical majority and ruling community into a minority with no economic and political influence in their own ancestral land. According to the 'Rajmala' the Chronicles of Tipperah Kingdom, Tripura was ruled by as many as 186 Borok or Tippra kings whose history is one of the oldest ones in the world.

Tripura became a Union Territory without legislature with effect from November 1, 1956. On 21st January 1972 it attained the status of a full-fledged State under the provisions of the Northeast Areas (Reorganisation) Act. 1971.1 The National Highway No. 44 is the lifeline of Tripura State. The State is connected with the rest of the country through Assam by a 44 km. railway line. The capital city Agartala has an airport, which is well-connected with Kolkata, Guwahati and Silchar. Helicopter service is also available in the State. Tripura is the second largest State in India in rubber production, only next to Kerala. Of late, the Rubber Board of India declared Tripura as the 'Second Rubber Capital of India'. Tripura is a traditional tea grower. The climatic and geographical conditions of the State suit the large-scale plantation of tea.

Looking back to the history it is said that the unnatural demise of the last king Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur Debbarma on 17th May 1947 and also the socio-political movements speeded up the march of Tripura princely State from Monarchy to Democracy and ultimately it shaped the lives and destiny of the aboriginal people as what they are now in reality. Prior to Tripura Merger with Indian Union on 15th October 1949, they were absolute majority in their ancestral land, but now due to unabated influx of refugees and immigrants from across the Indo-Bangladesh international border and also from the main land India, they are now minority accounting only about 31.05% of the total population of Tripura (2001 Census). Such a drastic change in the demographic profile of the State has been bound to affect all spheres of life specially the socio-economic, cultural, religious and political lives of the aborigines. This very state of affairs has threatened the very existence of the aboriginal people in their own land and this is the crux and the most important cause of all the problems in Tripura, today.

   The Boroks who were once numerically absolute majority are now minority in their own ancestral homeland. Constitutionally they are also called tribal. They have been outnumbered by the non-Borok people particularly the Bengalees. Here, now, Bengalees are the dominant ethnic group controlling all spheres of life in the State - political, economic, educational and so on and so forth. In fact, the Bengalees played a vital role in the administration of the Princely Tripura State from the early part of the 20th Century till the Tripura Merger. Being the natives of the land the Boroks feel that they are being deprived of many of their rights, because they are now a minority.   After they became minority in their ancestral land the whole administration of the State went to the hands of the Bengalees, currently the dominant ethnic group in the State. Tragedy began in the Borok community, because from that time onwards they started facing all sorts of exploitations and deprivation by the dominant ethnic group. Almost all reserve lands of the Boroks had been dereserved by the non-Borok dominated State Administration to      rehabilitate lakhs of the forceful homeless Hindu Bengalees from across the Indo-East Pakistan international borders. Inflow of illegal migrants continued till now. This unprecedented inflow of the refugees is so tremendous that it made the position of the natives so horrible that they had to agitate and demand for an autonomous district council in their own land for their protection and safeguard. The situation of the natives was so pathetic that even a group of broad-minded Bengalees joined the movement for autonomous district council exclusively for interest of the natives. It is not abnormal to encourage such kind of joint venture for the greater interest of all people in the State. But it should be done as per the provisions of the Constitution of our great nation.

"If the administration of the Regent had defended Chakla Roshnabad and had protected the hearth and home of the Bengalees there, the problem would not have arisen. If the administration of the Chief Commissioner had stopped the easward migration of the homeless Bengalees and settled them in the western fringe within Tripura, the tribal resent would have been mild. If the Advisors of the Advisory Council and the Councilors of the Tripura Territorial Council had consulted the agitators and sought their cooperation, they might not have taken the deadly steps they took."2

It is necessary to state that if any peace and justice loving person wants to study and understand the present real condition of the tribal people and their unrest in Tripura, then he or she must know their background in detail and also must keep in mind that the Boroks are the aborigines / natives / first settlers of Tripura before he or she proceeds to study them. For this purpose one must feel as if one belongs to the tribal community, so that one will understand how much grievances the Borok tribes are still suffering in their heart. Otherwise nobody will understand the real problem of the Boroks.

After the Tripura Merger the forceful homeless Bengalees had outnumbered the aborigines and gradually captured the State administration to the fullest. In other words, the Bengalees have been dominating over the aborigines in all spheres of life since the Tripura Merger Agrrement with Indian Union on 15th October 1949. The Boroks now share only about 31.05% of the total population of the State and they enjoy only 20 Legislative Assembly Seats out of total 60 Legislative Assembly Seats of the State.  There is a view prevailing among some Boroks that it is like 'a divide and rule policy' applied by the British to the Indians in British India during the British regime and the same method is being applied to the natives by the dominant group in Tripura so as to keep them divided. If they are not kept divided then it will be a problem to the dominant ethnic group. They further opine that without any alliance with the tribal the non-tribal can always come to power and form Government by themselves and rule the State; because the tribal enjoy only 20 seats and the Bengalees 40 seats. In despite of the fact why do not they form Government by themselves without any alliance of thetribal? It is a politics or policy applied by the dominant group on one hand and the tribal people are divided by politics on the other hand. As a result, politics has become so important to the tribal that it is now like opium to them; therefore, they started forgeting their own people, history, identity, culture, tradition and society; they even don't hasitate to kill their own people and also other innocent people. Thus, because of politics the natives are divided. Politically they are so divided that they hate each other, fight each other and even kill each other. There seems to be no unity among the natives of Tripura for attaining their birth rights and constitutional rights. Generally the Boroks and other indigenous tribal people are becoming selfish day after day not concerning about the collective development of their community. Very few Borok people are concerned about the future of their community. Some tribal politicians are so selfish that they even can sell out their own community. It is very surprising that some tribal politicians and laymen are so imprudent and selfish that they dislike those tribal students who study outside the State. Moreover, the local people also have different opinions regarding adoption of scripts for Kokborok causing intra-tribal conflict in the field of language and literature. For example, a group of Boroks wants to introduce Roman Scripts for Kokborok whereas another group of Boroks are in favour of Bengali Scripts for Kokborok. This very conflict also sprang up from the political background of the two groups. It is seen that almost all the supporters of regional political parties are in favour of Roman Scripts and almost the supporters of the non-regional political parties are in favour of Bengali Scripts. This state of affairs has given a tremendous impact on the development of Kokborok. And it is very astonished as well as unconstitutional that although more than 70% of Boroks are in favour of Roman Scripts and less than 30% of Boroks are in favour of Bengali Scripts the present State Government has not adopted Roman Scripts for Kokborok, but introduced Bengali Scripts. It is to be noted that both Roman Scripts and Bengali Scripts are not Borok scripts, so whichever scripts are more scientific, most of the Boroks want that scripts should be adopted for the purpose. Therefore, adoption of scripts for Kokborok must not be made a political issue any longer.    

To some tribal and non-tribal people politics in Tripura is nothing but communal one. Even some educated Bengali politicians also expressed the same opinion during the last Assembly election. Indeed, plainly speaking, this kind of views does not always hold good.  Because there is another side of the same coin, which is not well known to all. In fact, communal harmony through fusion of horizon of both natives and non-natives may be the best policy for restoration of lasting peace in Tripura.

In order to provide safeguard to the Boroks being the aborigines of this land, Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) was introduced on 3rd March 1979. Many politicians and laymen both tribal and non-tribal particularly the leftist politicians and some tribal regionalist minded people faught a lot for introducing TTAADC in Tripura. As it has been mentioned earlier that the total area of TTAADC is about 7,132.56 sq. kms., which is 68.10 % of the total area of the State. The Council consists of 28 elected members; 25 seats have been reserved for Scheduled Tribes; 3 seats for others; and the Hon'ble Governor can nominate 2 members. So the council has a strength of 30 members. But it is unfortunate that although the TTAADC is primarily meant for the aboriginal tribal people of the State it is formally controlled by the indigenous people but pratically by the Bengalees. Therefore, it is said that the TTAADC is like a tiger/lion without teeth. Because it can hardly do any development work for the natives.  It is now just like a show that the indigenous people are being safeguarded and protected by the Government from all sorts of deprivation and exploitation. Thus, as they had been outnumbered by the non-local people in their own homeland and the non-local people had been given shelters and safeguard by the natives during special and forceful condition, the Boroks demand more autonomy for the TTAADC and also more  reservation in Tripura Legislative Assembly through special provisions and amendment of the Constitution of our country for their own safeguard.

   Mention may be made that if one compares the real condition and development status of the Bengali populated areas with that of the indigenous tribal people mainly living in the rural areas, one generally finds all sorts of Government facilities present in the Bengali areas such as good road condition, power supply, drinking water facility, irrigation for agriculture, bridges, good schools running smoothly, market and shopping centers, proper Government food and civil sipplies, no casualty because of starvation, good Government priced shops, good hospitals, proper rehabilitation for the unemployed youth, proper utilization of fund, proper allotment of land, important offices, no post is lying vacant and all posts are filled up,  rehabilitation for new comers in the town areas, etc., whereas in the tribal areas one generally finds  bad road condition, no repairs of road for last 15-20 years, no road at all in some areas, no power supply in most of the tribal areas, no drinking water facility, no irrigation facility, no bridges, no good schools running smoothly, no sufficient and capable teachers in the schools, about 40 schools located in tribal areas are partially being occupied by the armed, para-military and other security forces disturbing the normal environment of the students and their studies, no good market and shopping centers, no proper Government food and civil sipplies, death due to starvation, no good hospitals or health centers, some health centers were closed down for last 10-15 years, no transport and communication facility, no proper rehabilitation for the unemployed youth, no proper utilization of Government fund, restriction of land allotment for the tribal, negligible amount of annual budget of the TTAADC, which is much less than the budget of a Development Block of State Goverment, many departments of the TTAADC are no longer under the TTAADC control and are now being controlled by the State Government, fake encounters where many innocent persons including students are killed, arbitrary detention, rape cases committed by the officers in the Government offices and other State machineries, arson, kidnapping of innocent people both tribal and non-tribal, eviction of tribal people from their own land in the name of development projects and security (e.g. Gumti Hydel Project over Gumti river covering Dumbur lake where more than 25 thousand tribal people were evicted and became homeless and landless in 1971-73), dereservation of tribal reserve lands for rehabilitation of the forceful homeless Hindu Bengali refugees, dereservation of thousands of posts for the tribal, in spite of availability of elligibale tribal candidates more than seven thousand ST posts are not being advertised and reqruited by the State Government, racial discrimination in the State Administration, not even 1% reservation maintained for the tribal people in running businesses in Agartala town and many other towns of the State; State Government never takes proper steps for development of tribal people in the field of business, etc. So, some tribal people believe that the tribal people are important only at the time of State annual Budget in Delhi and as soon as the budget is approved and fund sanctioned by the Centre they are neglected by the Government. Because development schemes are not properly implemented in the tribal areas. Therefore, some tribal people believe that the present Tripura State Government is a refugee Government because most of the politicians, MLAs and Ministers were born outside Tripura but in Bangladesh. "The emergence of the local tribal movement has brought about a metamorphosis both in consciousness and in behaviour of some tribals. They believe that the heavy Bengali influx will ultimately liquidate the tribals, and that the present government of Tripura is a government of the refugees, for the refugees and by the refugees"3

   It may not be out of place to mention that it is a popular trend and good practice in the country that police officers, army officers, para-military forces, security personnel who excel in their respective fields and prove to be courageous for the protection and security of the nation are awarded by the Government. There is no doubt that all should appreciate this practice. But in Tripura it is unfortunate that in many of the cases police officers, para-military forces and security personnel are awarded by the State Government not because they excel in their performances but simply because they could kill, arrest, detain and torture the innocent persons and burn tribal hamlets. In the same line with the police officers and TSR jawans some tribal police officers and TSR jawans also try their best to kill, arrest, torture and detain the innocent tribal people for personal interest. Because of this dirty practice among the police and one-sided State Administration many women particularly the tribal women became widow, many students lost their lives, thousands of tribal families became homeless, exploited and thousands of tribal youths went underground. 

Besides, whenever TSR, Police, CRPF, Armed Forces, and other Security Personnel were killed in ambush by the tribal militants in the tribal areas, right after the ambush operation the militants fled away from the spot, but it is unfortunate that in retaliation to the attack a group of anti-tribal TSR and other forces discriminately repeatedly attacked the nearby tribal hamlets, burnt down hundreds of houses, killed many innocent people, raped many women and detained many innocent people. For example, the TSR committed atrocities upon the innocent tribal people in the following incidents: Raj Chantai incident (26th June 1993) where more than 200 houses were burnt down, Kutnakami incident (6th Nov. 1996) where three innocent tribal people were burnt alive and killed, 6 tribal hamlets were burnt down, Kuwarkami incident (21st May 1997) where more than 50 houses were burnt down, Pitra Kami incident (21st May 1997) where 19 shops were burnt down, Gamaria Kami incident (11th October 1997) where more than 150 houses were burnt down, Twisa Durai incident (19th Nov. 1997) where more than more than 130 houses were burnt down, Ampura Bazar incident (22nd March 1998) where more than 500 houses and shops were burnt down, Takumbari incident, etc. It is because of all these atrocities committed by the TSR upon the innocent tribal people that many tribal people claimed that TSR is a Bengali Bahini, the most communal State Riffles in the country.  But it is not completely true. Because, just for a handful of TSR officers and jawans spoiling the entire TSR community can hardly be branded so. In fact, positive side of the para-military forces can never be denied.

It is because of the above-cited causes the resentment of the Boroks and other indigenous people found expression in various ways, peaceful and violent. As the State Administration is becoming more communal and one-sided, the resentment of the natives went on mounting day by day. It is because of all sorts of deprivation, oppressions and exploitation the aborigines are still facing that a group of natives have chosen armed struggle to safeguard their own community and free from the bondage of the outsiders, but not to be freed from their country India. About 18 militants organizations were formed from 1979 to till today. Out of them almost all groups are politically motivated groups, some of them short-lived; only about 3-4 groups seem to be still active. Although there is a popular propaganda in the country that tribal militant of Tripura are demanding a sovereign State and their movement is a secessionist movement. But it is not that true.

According to some educated people of the State this propganda is false and it is a technique of a class of communal, ungrateful and immoral people to convince the Indian Union Government to deploy more and more armed and security forces to fight insurgency in the State targeting the tribal youth. Tripura's insurgency problem is not like the insurgency problem of Nagaland. Because Naga insurgents or militants groups, for instance, NSCN is still fighting for a sovereign State and it is a secessionist movement, but the root cause of the insurgency problem in Tripura is not struggle for sovereignty but is basically the demand for their birth rights, constitutional rights and so on and so forth, because they are the aborigines of the State.    

Now, who is responsible for tribal unrest, extremist movement, and ethnic clash in Tripura?  Is it the local people themselves or the 'outsiders'? Now time has come to all right thinking persons to ponder upon the conflict in the State so as to drive home the constitutional measures for the protection and security of all sections of population particularly the down-trodden aborigines of Tripura. Thus, peace may be restored in the State. Because from the angle of the present set-up of socio-cultural and political conditions of the people of Tripura, it is seldom possible to think that Tripura is for the natives alone or for the 'outsiders' alone. But it does not follow that more autonomy through the constitutional provisions for the aborigines of the State is not possible. Since the present condition of the Boroks is so pathetic that restoration of peace in the civilized human society of Tripura of our time is quite possible only through proper implementation of provisions of the constitution of this great country and there is no alternative to it.