(Cover page has been edited)
To
His Excellency the Governor of Tripura
Agartala .
Dated, Agartala, the 18th January, 2016.
Respected Sir,
We, on behalf of the Tipraland Movement Co-ordination Committee
(Member organizations, namely; Tipraland
State Party and Young Tripuri Association) would request you kindly to
consider to accede our demand on elevation of
TTAADC to a full fledged statehood having its nomenclature for it as “TIPRALAND” in the best interest of sons of soil (19 tribes) in the State as they
are facing extinction in Tripura in the light of the two reasons of historical
important events.
1. Historical Background:-
(a) Tripura
with India on 15th October,1949 just after 2 years 1 month of her
independence attainment on 15th August, 1947. Tripura was one of the
oldest ancient princely State and ruled by 184 Tipperah/Tripuri Kings which
started with King Druhya since 3102 B.C
and the last King was Bir Bikram Kishore Maniky. The reference of
Tipperah/Tripura State could be correlated in the great epic ‘MahaBharata’.
(b) With the sudden demise of the last King of
Tripura on 17th May, 1947; the British rulers in India appointed the
Queen Kanchaprava Devi to head the Council of Regency on 8th
August,1947 who had also signed the Agreement of Merger to merge Tripura with
India on 15th October, 1949.
(c) The
transition of Tripura from Monarchy to democracy was a smooth process between
April, 1947 and October, 1949. The last King had taken initiative to merge his
State with India by appointing a
minister on 28th April, 1947 to represent the State in the
Constituent Assembly. With the sudden death of the last King, the then Queen
Kanchan Prava Devi took part actively in the merger process and represented to
the then Home Minister Sardar Bhallav Bhai Patel. The office of Chief Minister
created by the monarchy was abolished on 20th December, 1947 by the
Government of India with appointment of a Dewan to assist the Queen till the
accession of Tripura in to India was accomplished. The Dewan continued in
office till Tripura was made a Part-C State under the Constitution of India in
1951.
(d) The transition of Tripura from a nominal
democracy to a full-fledged parliamentary democracy witnessed enormous refugees
influx in lakhs over a period of 1949-1972 and outnumbered the sons of soil in
the State in to microscopic minority today. Due to refugees influx in this
manner, the State witnessed food scarcity with sudden increase in population
which Tripura never faced during the rule of Kings (Reference- Plan document of
1970-71, Planning & Co-ordination Department, Government of Tripura and
graving of reserved land ( 1950 Square miles reserved land by the last King in
1943 for Panch-Tripuri) by them although
the Tripura Administration Order, 1949 issued by the government of India was in
force till 19974. In 1948, Regent Maharani’s
Dewan A.B Chatterjee vide order no.325 dated 1oth Aswin, 1358 Tripura
Era(1948 AD) opened 300 square miles out of the said reserved land for
refugees’ settlement. Subsequently, more such opening of the reserved land was
made for the refugees. The Tripura Administration Order, 1949 which stated that
the Royal laws shall continue in force during the period from 1949 to 1974 was
completely dishonored. The resentments started erupting in many forms and was
suppressed by the ruling Governments in succession in the State till date. The
result is the tribes of Tripura has become microscopic minority in population
within 68 years of merger with India, although they were majority before
acceding with India. According to 1991 Census, the actual percentage of tribes
in Tripura was 23%, but to suppress the
resentment; the status quo in its population percentage had to be maintained to
them feel that their population had not decreased. Thereafter, two successive
Census had taken place in 2001 and 2011. Now, within 68 years of merger, tribes
of Tripura had got reduced to minority who were once minority; how many more
years it should require for them to extinct from the face of this earth.
Perhaps, no where in the world, the percentage of original population (the sons
of the soil) has been outnumbered by the refugees of another State(s) taking
shelter in another State(s) where they are residing presently like it had
happened in respect of Tripura State that due to the partition of India from 1947 to till emergence of Bangladesh in
1971, lakhs of refugees sheltered therein on humanitarian ground from East
Bengal or East Pakistan or presently Bangladesh. This is the historical fact as
to how the sons of soil in Tripura is being an extinct minority today. It may
take about a thousand years for any other communities to extinct but for the
sons of soil in Tripura, it should require another 60-70 years as they become
about 23% within the span of the last 68 years when 84th amendment
of the Constitution of India shall be in force with effect from 2026.
Therefore, the demand for elevation of TTAADC to a full-fledged State
‘TIPRALAND’ is on the question of existence of these sons of soil within the
framework (Article 2 & 3) of the Constitution of India for their
self-determination to save them from extinction.
2. The
two important historical reasons for which the sons of soil (19 tribes) of
Tripura reduced to microscopic minority and facing extinction today:-
(a) India
attained independence on 15th August, 1947 the partition of Bharat: India and Pakistan. As a result of
partition, East Bengal became part of Pakistan which was known as East Pakistan
thereafter. Amidst of Tripura in transition , lakhs of refugees
from East Pakistan made an entry here.
The uninterrupted influx of refugees
continued. Tripura had had 683,704 refugees by the end of 1958. The
registration of refugees discontinued from 1959-63. The registration of
refugees restarted from 1964 to 1971 and registered 134,820 migrants (including
after East Pakistan attained independence as Bangladesh in 1971). Tripura
sheltered 818,524 refugees during 1946 to 1971 which is already added in each
census which may kindly be seen in the given Table No.1.
(b) Scenario of refugees influx in Tripura from
East Bengal or East Pakistan or Bangladesh from 1947 to 1971.
|
Census
|
Total
Population as per census
|
Year of
Refugees Influx
|
Total Influx of
Refugees
|
Sons of Soil
(including all tribes)
|
Population of
Others than tribes & Refugee
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
|
1951
|
645,707
|
1946-1951
|
(a)
284,004 (43.98%)
|
237,953
(36.85%)
|
123,750
(19.17)
|
|
1961
|
11,42,005
|
1952-61
|
(b)
399,700
|
360,070
(31.53%)
|
98,231
(8.6%)
|
|
|
|
|
(a)+(b)=683,704
(59.87)
|
|
|
|
1971
|
1556342
|
1962-71
|
( c) 140,594
|
450,544
(28.95%)
|
287,274
(18.46%)
|
|
|
|
|
(a)+(b)+(c)=824,298
(52.96%)
|
|
|
N.B:- (a) stands for
total influx of refugees sheltered till 1951; (b) stands for total refugees
from 1952-61 and ( c ) stands for total refugees sheltered during 1962-71 with registration discontinued
during 1959-63 & it is nil for the
period.
Table
No.1
The figure(s) in the parenthesis
indicated the percentage of population as shown in the concerned column. The
total population of Tripura minus the total refugees population would be
361703, that is the total population without refugees population in 1951.
Therefore, the percentage of the sons of
soil (tribes) population in Tripura without refugees population would be 65.79%
in 1951. Like wise the percentage of sons of soil minus the total refugees was
78.57% and 61.55% in 1961 and 1971 respectively. The sons of soil in Tripura
prior to merger with India was not termed as tribes. Therefore, the figure
of population of tribes as shown in 1941
is doubtful as the ruler kings of Tripura did not declare them as tribes during
their rules. On the basis of records of
census, the sons of soil in Tripura were majority even till 1951 Census. It
is kindly to be noted that the
percentage increase in the population other than the sons of soil (tribes)
& refugees appeared to be on the decrease in 1961 census but on the
increase in 1971 census might be due children born to the refugees was not
recorded as the in the census same was already absorbed in the preceding census
. The percentage should not be less than 65-70% when the total refugees
population sheltered is excluded from the total population in 1971. This is how
the sons of soil was reduced to microscopic minority in Tripura within 68 years
of merger with India. We are countering a rapid decrease in share of the total
population in the State and a trend that is heading towards extinction if we
are not granted statehood for our
self-determination under Article 2 & 3 of the constitution of India. We
have full faith in the Constitution of India and the authorities of Indian
Parliament for it will not let us extinct and grant us statehood by elevating
Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council(TTAADC) in the nomenclature of
it as “TIPRALAND”.
Besides, the Memorandum issued by
the Government of India in the Ministry of Home granting the Citizenship of
India to those Hindu illegal intruders from Bangladesh ( in case of Tripura)
and Pakistan having intruded in to India till 31st December, 1914
shall further reduce the percentage in the population of the tribes in Tripura
from the present microscopic minority in to un-accountability its population to
the extent that the tribes in Tripura was majority and have been reduced to
microscopic minority within 67
years of merging with India on 15th
October, 1949. Therefore, it is easily assessable that how many more years
shall take for these tribes to be insignificant in terms of percentage of the
total population in the State.
It is noteworthy, there is no such
incident in the history wherein anyone of the States in India due to partition
in 1947 and emergence of new country Bangladesh in 1971 that the existing original population was
submerged by the refugees population and gain majority over the principal
population by the refugees in the State wherein refugees of the East Bengal or
East Pakistan or Bangladesh. This is the reality in case of the sons of soil(19
tribes) in the Sate of Tripura. This has resulted the tribes in the State to
part their own land and self-rule under the Constitution of India. This is
simply unprecedented in all aspects and the Government of India can not shirk
the responsibility from protecting us from dire extinction.
Therefore, we,
on behalf of the sons of soil (tribes) in Tripura under the banner of Tipraland
Movement Co-ordination Committee, Tripura would like to draw your kind
attention to the gravity of this issue of the sons of soil (tribes) in the days
to come and request the Government of India to protect the sons of soil (all tribes
in Tripura) from extinction by empowering a self-determination in the shape of
elevating Tripura Tribal Autonomous Areas District Council(TTAADC) to a
full-fledged State immediately under Article 2 and 3 of the Constitution of
India for causes of the historic reasons that attributed to our being
microscopic minority for our protection
from extinction.
Yours faithfully
The signatories are:-
1.Shri Harinath Debbarma, Chairman, TSP
2.Shri
Chitta Ranjan Debbarma, President, TSP
3.Shri
Sonacharan Debbarma, Vice-President, TSP
4.Shri
Gurupada Debbarma, General Secretary, TSP
5.Shri Angel Jamatia, President, YTA
