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This is Tripura's silver jubilee year, but no one wants to be
reminded of it. Not surprising because since 1980, ethnic strife
here has claimed the lives of three million people. Even by the
standards of other North-East 'insurgency-hit' States, land-locked
Tripura has had a particularly bad run.
But it doesn't seem to have many votaries in the national
mainstream. Many banks and schools have closed down in the State.
Even the capital, Agartala, clearly needs development activity, and
by late afternoon, life comes to a standstill, with few daring to
venture out.
Today, Union Home Minister Indrajit Gupta is supposed to visit
Agartala to keep his long-promised date with the State's Left Front
Government to discuss ways and means to end the nightmare. He will
have a lot to discuss. In 1996, according to The North East Sun,
236 people were killed by supposed insurgents. This figure does not
adequately represent the reality as it is based on official
admissions of insurgency strikes. Many more, including at least 70
police or paramilitary personnel, were killed in the veritable
bloodbath that shows no sign of abating.
On January 13, State Home Minister Samar Chowdhury offered the
insurgent groups a deadline hoping the significance of January 26,
might prompt them to come forward and lay down their arms. Nothing
of the kind happened. The killings of innocents and ambushes on
security personnel continued.
On January 31, insurgents raided a colony called Taidu Bazar, 90 km
south of Agartala, and gunned down seven people.
Nothing new about it, only the State Government was relieved that
the dead numbered less than the Kalyanpur Bazar massacre of
December 13 when 25 were slaughtered. "If more had died this time,
the Government would have looked really foolish," says a Congress
politician.
Under Left Front rule since 1993, the rate of killings has shown a
rise. But typically, the Marxists have dithered from taking the
bull by the horns, hoping, among other things, that the insurgents
will be isolated among the tribals and, as Manik Sarkar adds,
contribute to a political defusion of the crisis.
Sticking to this policy, the Left Front has avoided giving the Army
the responsibility to end the insurgency. Which is why Tripura
continues to be the only insurgency-wracked State in the North-East
where the Disturbed Areas Act has not been extended.
Nor have the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF), National Liberation
Front of Tripura (NLFT), Tripura Resurrection Army (TRA) and about
11 other smaller militant outfits been declared illegal.
But Gupta's visit may change that. Both the police and security
forces are showing signs of rising impatience. The Indian Police
Service (IPS) cadre, for example, is openly grumbling about the
Left's delay in handing over the and-insurgent operations to a
joint command, as was done in Assam recently. They are not too
happy with their lack of career opportunities.
While those in the fraternity who could get out with Central
assignments consider themselves lucky, the rest have to accept
superiors on deputation from other States who often lack commitment
to the State's needs. For instance, Director-General S.K Chatterjee
was appointed on deputation from Orissa. He went on leave after
the Kalyanpur Bazar massacre and it was supposed that the Left
Front would bring in a deputation. Not one senior officer from
elsewhere was willing to move to Agartala, however, and as a
result, Chatterjee rejoined a month later.
Meanwhile, the belated response of an insurgency outfit to the
Government's offer has not caused much cheer. The TRA, under its
hardcore leader, Dhananjoy Reang, surrendered en masse over
February 4 and 5 in South Tripura. But the TRA was not considered
as potent a threat as the AM and the NLFT Reang, formerly with the
Tripura National Volunteers (TNV), the outfit which killed hundreds
in the mid-'80s but resumed activities in 1988, was considered a
spent force by the police.
Besides, he was suffering from tuberculosis and could not take much
of the hard life any longer says a senior official.
This kind of cynicism is typical in the Tripura police.
While the politicians claim that 5,000 militants have surrendered
over the past three years, the police point out that apart from the
figure itself being exaggerated, it is only the less harmful
elements that surrender, lured by promises of jobs.
Given the divide in the Government itself, it is not surprising
that the Opposition Congress Party is not wasting any time in
taking pot-shots at the Left Front.
The Congress claims that insurgency, doubles whenever the leftists
are in power.
To this Chowdhury retorts that it is well known that the raison
d'etre for insurgency vanished in 1988-93 period under Congress
rule because the party appeased the hard-core elements: "The link
between the TNV and the Congress is well known," he says.
With the ruling coalition in Delhi considered 'friendly' to the
Left Front, the Congress is accusing both governments of a
diabolical plan to misappropriate funds meant for the
rehabilitation of surrendered militants.
Chowdhury counters this saying the funds have been as elusive as
the promised deployment of the Army.
Through the fog created by the charges and counter-charges. Tripura
now awaits a solution to a desperate situation.
That deliverance is expected from the Home Minister's visit.
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