ATPLO INTERLUDEBefore going into the backdrop leading to emergence of ATTF, reference may be made to a short-lived insurgent outfit All Tripura Peoples Liberation Organization (ATPLO) which was formed by a tribal primary school teacher Mr Binanda Jamatya drawing recruits almost exclusively from Jamatia tribal youths in the immediate aftermath of the June 1980 riots. The outfit resorted to stray killings of Bengalis in a series of attacks before being overpowered by a rejuvenated TNV after Bijay Kumar Hrangkhawal was escorted to Chittagong Hill Tracts in August 1982 by his followers . Finally Binanda Jamatya developed a rapport with the then second Left Front government and laid down arms en masse at Raiabari in Udaipur subdivision, South Tripura district in July 1983 at the initiative of the then chief minister Mr Nripen Chakraborty. Significantly, Binanda Jamatia and his handful of diehard followers were directly admitted to membership of the central committee of ‘Upajati Gana Mukti Parishad’, tribal front organization of CPI (M). However, Binanda Jamatya was brutally murdered in a mysterious manner in February 1985. ENTER A.T.T.F.The background behind the formation of A.T.T.F. is also interesting. The Congress-TUJS coalition government had come to power through the assembly polls held on February 2 ,1988 ,pulling off an upset victory over the left front which, however, retained its hold over the Autonomous District Council (ADC) it had captured for the second successive time by winning elections held on June 30, 1985. The aftermath of the assembly polls was marked by largescale political violence as irate congressmen started wreaking vengeance on rival CPI (M) cadres and workers for violence committed against them earlier. Besides, by-election to Fatikroy assembly constituency of North Tripura held in April 1988 was totally rigged by the Congress-TUJS coalition . Similarly, the Loksabha election of 1989 also witnessed largescale rigging. Came 1990 and the CPI (M) led left front became increasingly restive over the prospects of elections to the Autonomous District Council slated for July 8 that year. Retaining power in ADC was crucial for preserving the tribal vote bank. The Congress-TUJS leaders assert that the Leftists had floated A.T.T.F. in 1990 in order to rig the ADC polls which ultimately they lost .The Marxists, however, dismiss all such allegations as ‘baseless and fabricated’. The A.T.T.F. launched its armed offensive selectively killing Congress-TUJS workers and leaders in the interior areas. They ceased operations only after the left front came back to power in April 1993 and more than 1400 of the activists laid down arms at Shikaribari in Dhalai district on September 6 after signing a bipartite peace accord with the state government earlier on August 23rd. But a section of A.T.T.F. refused to lay down arms and carried on the offensive under the marginally changed banner of All Tripura Tiger Force (A.T.T.F.) under the leadership of Ranjit Debbarma. The group , banned in April 1997 by the centre, is currently trying hard to regain its area of hegemony in Khowai, Sadar and Amarpur subdivisions , lost earlier to rival nlft. With a view to storming khumlung , headquarter of Autonomous District Council (ADC) A.T.T.F. mobilised a large number of its gun-toting cadres in nearby areas. This led to a major encounter with police-CRPF personnel at Ghagracherra under Jirania police station on may 26 this year .As a result highly decorated deputy superintendent of police Mr. Manoranjan Debbarma and two A.T.T.F. militants died.Since then the inmates of Khumlung including leaders and elected members of district council owing allegiance to IPFT have been living in mortal scare of A.T.T.F. attack.The state government has in the mean time strengthened security net around Khumlung to thwart any misadventure by ATTF. NLFT STRIKES
The NLFT was formed in August 1991 by the erstwhile TNV vice president
Dhananjay Reang who had surrendered with other colleagues
three years back. Soon
he was joined by other former colleagues and started hit
and run operations against security forces as well as
unarmed civilians. The
organisation was split in 1993 and Dhananjay who was
ousted in a bloodless coup later formed another outfit
Tripura Resurrection Army (TRA) which surrendered en masse
to state government in April 1997 after parts of the state
had been brought under disturbed areas act and security
forces mounted offensive.
But NLFT,banned by the union home ministry since
April 1997, continues to operate on full scale,
indiscriminately killing unarmed civilians as well as
security forces with the demand for a 'free holy land of
Tripura'. Significantly , most of the leaders and cadres
of NLFT are Baptist Christians and unless one converts to
the Baptist variety of the faith no cadre or activist is
given arms or training. The NLFT have also been regularly
interfering with threligious faith and practices of the
Hindu tribals and non-tribals and converting people at
gun-point.On the contrary A.T.T.F.'s political demand is
deportation of all non-tribals who settled down in Tripura
after 1951. This outfit does not interfere with religious
affairs of people despite the horrendous cruelties they
have been perpetrating on non-tribal Bengalis.
However, one must bear in mind that tribal youths had been fed with a
totally false and mischievous campaign since May 1990 that
tribal population in Tripura had gone down to only 23% and
that even the ADC area was being swamped with non-tribal
infiltrators. The falsity of the campaign was proved
clearly within months as the 1991 census showed that
tribal population had registered a more positive growth
than the non-tribal community. As a result tribal
population stood at 30.95% and non-tribal population
fractionally came down to 69.05%.In fact for the first
time since 1951 tribal population had achieved a real
growth -however small. But the campaign baselessly
projecting all the non-tribal Bengalis in Tripura as
settlers and portraying them virtually as sworn enemies of
tribals continued with the purpose of winning over tribal
support. No mention was ever made of the immense
contribution made by the majority community to the state
in all spheres. The poison of hatred thus sowed continued
to flourish and created a near unbridgeable gap between
the communities who have no other alternative but to
peacefully co-exist here. The militant outfits have been
exploiting this only .The negative campaign against the
non-tribal Bengalis continued till the ADC polls last year
as part of the politics of competitive
tribalism–considered the easiest way to garner tribal
support in elections. But since then a change appears to
have come through. |