Tripura - Background
The name Tripura has a halo of mystery around it. It signifies different things to different people. The origin of the name of Tripura is still a matter of controversy among historians and researchers. Analysing the name etymologically some researchers believe it to a combined form of two Kok Borok (indigenous language) words viz.`tui' (water) and `pra'(confluence), meaning "confluence of water".
According to the 'Rajmala", Tripura’s celebrated court chronicle, an ancient king named 'tripur' ruled over the territorial domain known as 'Tripura' and the name of the kingdom was derived from his name. Many researchers explain the name 'Tripura' from its etymological origin: the word 'Tripura' is a compound of two separate words, 'tui' (water) + 'pra' (near) which in totality means 'near water'. The geographical location of the state with it's close proximity to the vast water resources of eastern Bengal coupled with the generic identity of the state's original inhabitants as 'Tipra' or 'Twipra' apparently justify this explanation of the State's name.
The early history of the kingdom of Tripura is a complex blend of history with Mythology. According to 'Rajmala' Tripura’s royal house trace their origin to the celebrated 'lunar' dynasty, following in the footsteps of their counterparts in the Hindu royal houses of the rest of India who claim to have originated from the 'lunar' or 'solar' dynasty.
The first general election took place in Tripura along with the rest of the country between January 11th and 25th 1952 and with Dasharath Deb and Biren Datta pipping Congress rivals to the post the CPI bagged both the Lok Sabha seats with convincing margins. Along with Lok Sabha election a thirty member electoral college was also constituted through secret ballot to elect Tripura’s sole representative to the Rajya Sabha. The CPI secured the majority of seats in the electoral college and Mr Arman Ali Munshi, an independent candidate supported by them, became Tripura’s first elected representativeto the Rajya Sabha.
An interesting point regarding election to Rajya Sabha is that initially a single seat had been provided forTripura and Manipur to be represented for two years each and after the stipulated two year period for Tripura lapsed similar electoral college in Manipur elected its representative for two more years. The electoral college in Tripura however remained in animated suspension and in 1956 elected Maulana Abdul Latif of Congress as Tripura’s second representative to the Rajya Sabha. Even as the momentous developments were unfolding the political demand for representative government through elected legislature started gaining in momentum. The state Congress leadership was in favour of the representative government but the CPI was in the forefront of the movement.
The conferment of the full-fledged statehood on Tripura brought to fruition the long-cherished political aspirations of the state’s people. Amidst all-round jubilation election to the state assembly came off on March 11, 1972 and, as expected, Congress party headed by Sukhamay Sengupta emerged clear Winners, securing 41 of the 60 assembly seats-the CPI (M) won 18 seats while CPI captured one seat only. Apparently all was well as Sukhamay Sengupta kept ruling the state with his typical administrative high-handedness. However, dark cloud was gathering in the distant horizon with TUJS carrying on a virulent campaign for ADC, evoking ‘equal and opposite reaction’ from the ‘Amra Bangali’, and appendage of the shady ‘Ananda Marg’ which set in motion a rival campaign to forestall setting up of district council.
The CPI (M) started gaining in strength mainly by organizing government employees through its powerful front organization ‘Tripura Employees Co-ordination Committee’ (TECC) to which the government responded by coercive measures. Mr Sengupta suffered a major setback in 1974 when Congress lost the election to the lone Rajya Sabha seat because of dissension within the party. With the imposition of emergency the state government became oppressive indiscriminately dismissing employees, arresting people and unleashing police on many an innocent citizen. Apart from prominent leaders of CPI (M) like Mr. Nirpen Chakraborty, Mr. Dasharath Deb a number of Congressmen like Mr. Samir Ranjan Barman and Mr. Tapas De, Editor of the largest-circulated and pro-people local daily ‘Dainik Sambad’, Mr Bhupen Datta-Bhowmik were put behind bars. The withdrawal of emergency by Ms Indira Gandhi was followed by Lok Sabha election on March 16, 1977.
Rent by internal dissension ruling Congress in Tripura was in a poor shape; so was the CPI (M) because of persecution of the party’s workers and supporters during emergency and the late release of leaders from jail left the Marxists with hardly any time to prepare for the polls. The old warhorse Mr. Sachindra Lal Singha descended on Tripura afresh as Lok Sabha candidate for newly-formed Congress for Democracy (CFD) and won the polls from west Tripura seat by a narrow margin, defeating congress candidate Mr. Tarit Mohan Dasgupta. In the tribal reserve East Tripura Loksabha seat Maharaja Kirit Bikram contesting on Congress ticket edged out CPI (M) leader Dasharath Deb in a keen contest.
In the mid 1980s, the Congress which, in a desperate bid to dislodge the Left Front in 1988 Assembly Elections, allied with the tribal group, TUJS, a front for the violent and separatist TN. After eight years of life in forests and in exile in Bangladesh, the Tripura National Volunteer Army (TNVA), led by Bijoy Hrangkhawl decided they had had enough. Hrangkhawl signed an agreement with Rajiv Gandhi, among a spate of goodwill accords that came from that young leader’s term before his assassination in 1991. Hrangkhawl joined the "mainstream" and even launched a pro-tribal party that was closely allied with the Congress Party. This was the Indigenous Front of Tripura (IFT), whose fortunes waxed and waned with those of the Congress.
The Left Front, despite have a larger proportion of votes, was ousted in the 1988 elections and a Congress-TUJS alliance seized power in the state. Their five years of rule saw complete chaos engulfing the hapless state: disruption of developmental work, sabotage and starving of the TTAADC of funds, and a wave of murders, rape and lootings. People became so angry with this semi-fascist rule that, in the next election in 1993, they whole-heartedly threw out the Congress-TUJS rulers and brought back the Left Front.
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