The insurgency in Tripura was an armed conflict which took place in the state of

Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the east a ...

between

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and several separatist rebel organisations. It was a part of the wider

insurgency in Northeast India The Insurgency in Northeast India involves multiple armed separatist factions operating in some of India's northeastern states, which are connected to the rest of India by the Siliguri Corridor, a strip of land as narrow as wide. Northeast ...

and was fueled by

Tripuris The Tripuri (also known as Tripura, Tipra, Tiprasa, Twipra) are an ethnic group originating in the Indian state of Tripura. They are the inhabitants of the Twipra/Tripura Kingdom in North-East India and Bangladesh. The Tripuri people through the ...

Background

Tripura, literally meaning land adjoining water, is located in the extreme southwest corner of the Northeast. Following India's independence in 1947, Tripura acceded to the Indian Union in 1948 as a "C" category State. It became a Union Territory in November 1956. Tripura attained full Statehood on 21 January 1972. Tripura's demography underwent a major change as a result of illegal

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

and refugees from former

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = East ...

and subsequently from

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. Tripuris were pushed to the hills and the

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

in the state became dominated by the

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

-speaking and immigrants. It was the particular reason which had created

national consciousness National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or to one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". National identity ...

among the local populations. The continuous neglect on the

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

issue had led to a direct confrontation between

Indian nationalism Indian nationalism is an instance of territorial nationalism, which is inclusive of all of the people of India, despite their diverse ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds. Indian nationalism can trace roots to pre-colonial India, b ...

and the newly created

Tripuri nationalism Tripuri Nationalism is an ideology that supports self-determination by the Tripuri people. The conflict is in essence ethnic and the Tripuri community, indigenous to the region formed the clear majority of population in the princely state of Tippe ...

. The parallel rise of

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

in the other states of the

Northeast India , native_name_lang = mni , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , motto = , image_map = Northeast india.png , ...

had further complicated the situation more, resulting in a deadly

armed conflict War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...

between

and

rebel groups Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

thus, creating the insurgency on ethnic lines as a Tribal versus Bengali conflict. The first militant outfit to form was Tripura National Volunteers (TNV). It was active until 1988. However, most prominent ones were National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF). These groups had various demands. NLFT wanted to establish an independent Tripura and ATTF wanted to finalise the Tripura merger agreement. However, all of them wished to remove

Bangladeshis Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay. Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the p ...

immigrants who had entered

after 1950 despite their ideological differences. Anti-Bengali sentiments of Tripuri rebel groups had given birth to the United Bengali Liberation Front. The group wanted to protect

Bengalis Bengalis (singular Bengali bn, বাঙ্গালী/বাঙালি ), also rendered as Bangalee or the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the ...

in Tripura from militants. This group was supported by the Bengali Dominated Communist Party which supplied arms and infrastructure. Internal conflicts among them had divided NLFT into NLFT(B) led by

Biswamohan Debbarma Biswamohan Debbarma declared himself as a chairman of the National Liberation Front of Tripura of his own faction. In May 2017 in a meeting at an undisclosed location, selected Subir Debbarma alias Yamorok (45), as the new 'president' of the or ...

and NLFT(N) led by Nayanbasi Jamatia. ATTF which was a right wing organisation of NLFT had become its own militant organisation led by

Ranjit Debbarma Ranjit Debbarma is the current commander general of the All Tripura Tiger Force. He is wanted by Interpol for criminal conspiracy and weapons trafficking. Upon the surrender of Mantu Koloi, second in command of one of the National Liberation Fr ...

. Those groups had received the major blow when Biswamohan Debbarma, Nayanbasi Jamatia and Ranjit Debbarma were all arrested in their hideout camps in Bangladesh. It is estimated that some of those armed cadres are still present at their hideout camps at

Chittagong Hill Tracts The Chittagong Hill Tracts ( bn, পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রাম, Parbotto Chottogram), often shortened to simply the Hill Tracts and abbreviated to CHT, are group of districts within the Chittagong Division in southeast ...

, Bangladesh. From the end of 2020, A resurgence has occurred led by the NLFT with incidents of kidnapping workers and killing of a trader marking the emergence of insurgency in the state again.

References

{{ongoing military conflicts Insurgency in Northeast India Tripuri nationalism Politics of Tripura History of Tripura Civil wars involving the states and peoples of Asia Wars involving India 2000s in India Insurgencies in Asia