Mandai massacre refers to the general massacre of the
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 ...
of Mandwi village near
Agartala
Agartala () is the capital city of the Indian state of Tripura, and is one of the largest cities in northeast India. The city is governed by the Agartala Municipal Corporation. The city is the seat of the Government of Tripura. It is located on ...
in the Indian state of Tripura on 8 June 1980, by tribal insurgents. According to official figures 255 Bengalis were massacred in Mandai, while foreign presses, independent sources and eyewitnesses put the figure anywhere between 350 and 400. Many of the victims had their heads crushed and their limbs severed. The children were spiked through. Pregnant women had their stomachs slit open. The
Amrita Bazar Patrika
''Amrita Bazar Patrika'' was one of the oldest daily newspapers in India. Originally published in Bengali script, it evolved into an English format published from Kolkata and other locations such as Cuttack, Ranchi and Allahabad. The paper di ...
described the Mandwi massacre as
My Lai massacre
My or MY may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* My (radio station), a Malaysian radio station
* Little My, a fictional character in the Moomins universe
* ''My'' (album), by Edyta Górniak
* ''My'' (EP), by Cho Mi-yeon
Business
* Market ...
put into shade.
According to Major R. Rajamani, the commander of the
Indian army
The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
contingent that arrived on 9 June, the My Lai massacre was not even half as gruesome as in Mandwi.
Background
Mandwi was an obscure village located about 30 km north east of Agartala. The name of the village was incorrectly spelled as Mandwi in the land records. The village is inhabited by mostly
Tripuri
Tripuri refer to:
*Tripuri people, an ethnic group in India and Bangladesh, also known as Tipra people
**Tripuri language
**Tripuri nationalism
**Tripuri calendar
**Tripuri culture
**Tripuri cuisine
**Tripuri dances
**Tripuri dress
**Tripuri games ...
and the minor
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 ...
are residing there who are either shopkeepers or running other business.
it has been politically unstable since then, and always been on the verge of turmoil since then.
Events
On the night of 6 June, separatist insurgent group lay out a blueprint of mass destruction.
From the night of 6 June, armed insurgents began cordoning off the nontribal localities. From the morning of 7 June, news of arson, violence and murder began to spread. The Bengalis who stayed deep in the tribal pockets felt intimidated and started to leave for safety. Thousands of Bengalis took shelter near the National Highway 44. The BDO of Jirania, had opened a relief camp at Khayerpur School and started administering initial relief to the Bengali refugees. Shankar Narayan, the District Magistrate of West Tripura was intimated by that time and he asked BDO of Jirania to provide the refugees chira and gur.
From the afternoon of 7 June, the situation worsened. In the evening there were reports of large scale arson and looting in Jirania block. At 7:00 p.m. Sharma rushed to the District Magistrate office where he appraised Additional District Magistrate M. L. Dasgupta of the situation, who requisitioned two companies of the army. The army units however were given orders of flag march only. In the meantime Sharma received reports that the situation had turned grave in
Champaknagar
Champaknagar is a small town some 30 km away from Agartala, the State capital of Tripur, India on the banks of river Haora River, Saidra.
Education
* Champaknagar H.S School
* Tripura Loka Sikshalaya High School
* Montfort Higher Secondary Sc ...
and the rioters were committing arson on the Bengali villages in the foothills of
Baramura)[Hatai Kotor.
On 8 June, at 3:00 a.m., Satyendra Chakraborty, the LAMPS manager of Mandwi and Sachindra Saha, a CPI(M) leader reported at the B.D.O. office that more than 500 Bengalis in Mandwi have been cordoned off and the armed Tripuri people">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 ...
are about to kill them. Many Bengalis had taken shelter at the police outpost in Mandwi, which remained unmanned.
At 6:00 a.m., a contingent of Rajasthan Armed Constabulary and a platoon of Tripura Armed Police proceed towards Mandwi from Jirania. On their way they found an entire village on flames in Purba Noabadi. After dousing the flames, they proceeded towards Mandwi. By the time they reached Mandwi all the houses and huts were reduced to ashes, except the LAMPS building. The entire place were full of blood as most of them were hacked to death. At the police outpost two Bengali Hindu women were killed by Jiban Debbarma. After two hours, the injured were sent to GB hospital in a truck. Those who survived were given shelter across different schools of Agartala. Those events followed by curfews existing several months throughout the state. This incident marked the beginning of a sense of insecurities in both the communities that followed years and even today.
On 8 July 1980, the Ministry of Home Affairs set up the Dinesh Singh Committee to investigate into the Mandwi massacre.