Worry Within, War Without

In Tripura, this year8217;s election campaign was kicked off not by public rallies but by the massacre of 12 people on the night of January...

In Tripura, this year8217;s election campaign was kicked off not by public rallies but by the massacre of 12 people on the night of January 26. Sadly, this is how it has been in this insurgency-plagued state. Five years ago, in the week preceding the last elections, the outlawed Tripura National Volunteers TNV were reported to have killed 102 non-tribals.

8216;8216;This is the work of the Congress. It has allied with the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura INPT, which is nothing but a front of the outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura NLFT,8217;8217; alleges Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who is seeking a second term for himself and the third consecutive stint in power for the Left Front.

The CPIM, the leading partner of the Left Front, has already moved the Election Commission about the alleged 8216;8216;nexus8217;8217; between the Congress-INPT alliance and the ISI-backed NLFT insurgents. Tripura Left Front chairman Baidyanath Majumdar has also complained that at least four INPT candidates have direct links with the banned NLFT.

The Congress, however, it has any 8216;8216;unholy alliance8217;8217; with any militant group. 8216;8216;Who says the INPT is a front of the NLFT? It is a political party formed by Bijoy Hrankhawl, a one-time insurgent leader who vowed allegiance to the Constitution long ago,8217;8217; says Sudhir Ranjan Majumdar, former CM and senior state Congress leader. The Congress has kept 42 seats for itself and allotted 18 to the INPT.

Bordered on three sides by Bangladesh, Tripura has seen its demographic composition change drastically 8212; from 90 per cent tribal 1931 census to 30 per cent 8212; following large-scale migration of Hindus from erstwhile East Pakistan. This change forms the core of Tripura8217;s insurgency problem, with every militant group over the past 20 years appointing itself protector of the tribals and killing non-tribals systematically. At the moment, there are two major groups of insurgents 8212; the NLFT, with its alleged Congress connection through the INPT, and the All-Tripura Tiger Force ATTF, which was reportedly floated clandestinely by the CPIM in 1990 8212; the rump of configurations that dominated the underground movement in the 1980-90s.

Election statistics see chart show that the LF won seven less seats in the 1998 elections than it did in 1993. 8216;8216;But if you look at the vote share, our registered an upward trend,8217;8217; argues Sarkar, a CPIM leader.

Majumdar also talks figures, but they relate to the upsurge in insurgent activities during the 10 years of LF rule. 8216;8216;At least 14,000 people have been killed in this period. Another 18,000 have been kidnapped. Over 4.5 lakh people have been rendered homeless. That is the track record of the LF government,8217;8217; says Majumdar.

But the Congress also has its own worries, centring around the infighting within the party. As recently as January 24, when the party candidates8217; names were announced, discontented Congress members went on the rampage at the Agartala party office.

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Moreover, the party has no one clear leader. While the PCC is headed by Birajit Sinha, two former chief ministers 8212; Majumdar and Sadhan Ranjan Sarkar 8212; and CLP leader Jahar Saha are all going all out to be named the chief ministerial candidate.