Narendra Modi resolves long-standing issues of Bru community but story is too positive for BBC to report

The recently held polls to the Tripura Legislative Assembly featured a newly enfranchised segment of voters. These people belonged to the Reang tribe, who fled ethnic violence in Mizoram more than two decades ago. Ushajen Mog, Additional Chief Electoral Officer, Tripura recently told All India Radio that that a total of 13,949 persons from Reang community resettled in Tripura were registered on the electoral roll. They are drawn from 5,645 rehabilitated families. These families are now spread across 12 locations in four districts of the state. The enfranchisement of the internally displaced Reangs signifies both a gain and loss to democracy. It is a gain because the right to adult suffrage provided by the Constitution of India under Article 326 is now conferred upon them. One is reminded when Sukumar Sen, ICS, who after retiring as the first Chief Election Commissioner of India (1950-58), was made the chairman of the Dandakaranya Development Authority, set up under the erstwhile Ministry of Rehabilitation. Sen not only resettled more than 600 families, who fled religious persecution in the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), in the project area (spanning present-day Chhattisgarh and Odisha) but also took care that they obtained Indian citizenship and voting rights. As a result of the initiative, there were about 13,000 voters from the Dankaranya development project by the time of the Fourth General Elections in 1967, and the majority of them cast their votes (vide Yojana Magazine, Ministry of I&B, November 24, 1968 P. 23). It is a loss to democracy because the expulsion of Reangs for reasons of ethnicity and religion from a constituent state of the Union became a fait accompli. Reangs, who call themselves Bru, while Mizos call them ‘Tuikuk’, were an odd man out in Christian-dominated Mizoram. Reangs are Hindus and felt secure in a Hindu majority Tripura, which already had a sizeable Reang presence (Reangs are actually the second largest tribal community in Tripura). According to the reply of the then home minister LK Advani in Rajya Sabha (unstarred Question 857) on 3 March, 1999, an estimated 35,995 Reangs left Mizoram during the period from October 1997 to December 1998. The Government of India was then “keen on the early return of the Reangs to Mizoram”. It was also providing financial assistance to Tripura to the maintenance of those displaced people. On humanitarian grounds, the Tripura government accommodated 32,172 Reang migrants in six relief camps in the North Tripura district. In October 1999 the National Human Rights Commission visited them on spot in Kanchanpur and emphasized on the constitutional obligation of the Mizoram government to take them back. The Centre followed a two-pronged approach of financially assisting Agartala for the upkeep of the camp inmates and persuading the Aizwal for their repatriation. On both sides, commitments were accompanied by a financial package. Little, however, moved on the ground. On the contrary, on 13 November, 2009, a fresh influx of Reangs into Tripura across the Mizoram border began. The provocation was the murder of a Mizo boy, which was blamed on the Reangs. According to reports, a total of 205 families comprising 1,353 persons crossed over to Tripura. By August 13, 2010, when veteran CPI-M leader and MP (Tripura West) made a special mention of it in Lok Sabha the fresh influx reached 2,746. The Mizoram government had agreed to take back 259 families, and actually took back 184 families comprising 884 migrants. Khagen Das had raised the issue of Reang migrants several times in Lok Sabha. Tripura was equally desperate to repatriate the Reang migrants. They were not only a burden for the administration to handle, but also created several problems like deforestation, encroachment, criminal acts and competition with locals in matters of employment. Repatriation was Reangs started in 2010 during the UPA-II government, and until 2014 approximately 1,622 families comprising 8,573 persons were repatriated. The newly elected Modi government was also keen that the rest of the Reang families should be repatriated to Mizoram. It got a fillip with the ascent of BJP government in Tripura. In a “major breakthrough” a tripartite agreement was signed in New Delhi involving Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb and Mizoram CM Lal Thanwala for the repatriation of 5,407 Reang families comprising 32,876 to Mizoram before 30 September, 2018. However, only 328 families comprising 1369 individuals actually returned. Thus an ambitious goal that actually came to nought. There was resistance both from Mizo NGOs who did not want the return of the Non-Christian Reangs, and leaders of Reangs who were apprehensive about their safety and security in Mizoram. Thus within a year, the Modi government had to move in a diametrically opposite direction, realizing that repatriation had reached its saturation level. With Amit Shah becoming the home minister in the second Modi government, realism prevailed. A new tripartite agreement was signed in New Delhi on January 16, 2020, the Reang migrants would be permanently settled in Tripura. Each family would be given a 30 x 40 sq ft of a piece of land for the construction of a house in Tripura, in addition to time-bound momentary assistance for building the house and ration. This tripartite agreement was signed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, then Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb, and Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga. As Adam Smith said, of all the things man is the most difficult cargo to transport. The Centre realized the futility of keeping the Reang file open for more than two decades. The Modi government was able to resolve the longstanding crisis that has been a hanging fire between New Delhi, Agartala and Aizwal for more than two decades. It might appear paradoxical that this decision came at a time when extremism and violence in the North East have hit rock bottom due to the policies of the Modi government. While incidents of terrorism have steeply fallen since 2014, there is a surge in a number of militants surrendering. Yet, on second thoughts, the Centre has possibly saved the Reangs from further brutalities. The end of uncertainty implies the Reangs would now be able to pursue their life and career as individuals in Tripura rather than part of relief camps. They are politically emancipated with the grant of voting rights, though Tripura High Court had to intervene in the matter. Their participation in the recently held polls in Tripura is an example that they are eager to begin a new life. Readings are an example of persecution of non-Christians in a Christian majority state viz. Mizoram. Several Mizo NGOs tried to stonewall their return. This might not make a good story for the BBC, which recently resuscitated the Gujarat riots of 2002 to malign Prime Minister Modi, who was the then Chief Minister of the state. In the Gujarat riots, the affected Muslims need not to flee the state, to take shelter elsewhere. They had been living a few kilometres from their homes, where they quietly returned afterwards. It is different in the case of Readings. However, the credit should go to the Modi government for bringing the issue to a close, in line with the wishes of the majority of Reangs themselves. The writer is the author of The Microphone Men: How Orators Created a Modern India (2019) and an independent researcher based in New Delhi. Views expressed are personal. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.