Several organisations have called an indefinite general strike in north Tripura’s Kanchanpur subdivision from Wednesday to protest against a move to resettle the Mizoram Bru refugees in the State. The rift between the refugees and the local population has widened after groups representing Mizo residents of Jampui Hills, a tourist hub in Kanchanpur, has extended support to the ongoing stir of the Nagarik Suraksha Manch (Citizens’ Protection Forum).
The Forum spearheaded the movement also to press for the rehabilitation of 93 non-tribal Bengali families who were displaced during the anti-CAA protests in December. It accuses the Bru refugees of siding with the rioters to attack non-tribal villages.
A quadripartite agreement was signed in New Delhi on January 16 to resettle over 34,000 Bru or Reang refugees stranded in Tripura. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Chief Ministers of Tripura and Mizoram were present on the occasion that fulfilled the long-time aspiration of the evacuees housed in six makeshift camps for over two decades.
Bru settlement deal may set bad precedent, caution activists
The Nagarik Suraksha Manch now allied with five local Mizo groups fears that the refugees would be settled in the ethnically sensitive Kanchanpur. But the Tripura government has clarified that they would be scattered in three-four subdivisions.
The Tripura police have rushed additional contingents of security forces to Kanchanpur in view of the strike call. The Assam Rifles battalion which is permanently stationed there has also been put on alert.
