Strife-torn Tripura banking on Gujral Government to come to its rescue

‘‘And when it came to raising two India Reserve battalions, S B Chavan (Rao’s Home minister) would tell us in Delhi that you will get the battalions by the time you return to your state. He did nothing to implement all that we would discuss with him.’’

‘‘It was Deve Gowda who sanctioned the raising of the two IR battalions. The process is on but it may take sometime. We are raising two battalions of the Tripura State Rifles (TSR) by drawing from the development funds,’’ he said.

Chowdhury was careful not to criticise the Gujral Government or the one headed by Deve Gowda but he did say that the budgetary provisions for fencing the border with Bangladesh were still awaiting Central clearance.

Tripura shares an 839 km long border with Bangladesh on three sides, including the inhospitable terrain of the Chittagong Hill Tracts which over the years have been a safe haven for numerous insurgent outfits.

‘‘There were repeated communications between the Centre and the State over the question of fencing the border with Bangladesh. In 1995-96, a stretch of 490 km was considered for fencing. This was duly communicated to us. But till date the budgetary provisions have not been cleared by the Centre,’’ he said.

‘‘If the sealing of the border can be done by the Centre, more achievements (in terms of tackling insurgency) are possible. But it is true that more than 600 km overlook bad terrain. It is an area difficult to police. It is possible to patrol by air but who will bear the expenditure. The extremists regularly cross over and set up camps,’’ he said.

Although Chowdhury attributed the tribal insurgency to ‘‘a big conspiracy by divisive forces and their foreign friends’’, he agreed that the tribals did have a genuine problem.

‘‘Tripura was once a tribal majority state. But now the tribals have been reduced to only 31 per cent. Their language was being lost. It was the Left Front Government which ensured that Kakborak remained the state’s second language. The tribals were repeatedly exploited by the Mahajans (money lenders) who were all activists of the Congress. This is why you see such a situation here,’’ he said.

To a query on why his Government was so reluctant to declare the entire state a disturbed area, Chowdhury made it clear that ‘‘we are interested in retaining civilian administration over the entire state since it reflects normalcy.’’

He said there was no question of allowing the Army full control of the state when a civilian administration was in place.

‘‘We have declared 19 police station areas as disturbed. It is to help provide legal cover (to Army and Central personnel) for policing. But we want to keep this only for a small period. Only as long as necessary.’’

Chowdhury was confident of isolating the insurgents, claiming that their support base was eroding fast. ‘‘We want them to lay down arms and return to the mainstream. The mechanisms can all be worked out. They must realise that we respect their culture, identity and feelings. But if they still stick to firepower, the State will be forced to match the firepower. They must not underestimate the State,’’ he said.

‘‘The word adequate is very flexible. What is adequate today may not seem so adequate tomorrow,’’ he said.