Jubilee Post News & Views
ASHISH KRISHNA
Finally, the Bru tribe which was made refugee in it’s own country has been rehabilitated in Tripura. The tripartite agreement among Centre, Tripura and Mizoram government, put to rest the two decade old matter which till recently remained unresolved. Mizoram is primarily populated with numerous tribal groups and skirmishes among them have been a routine affair, with Mizos and Brus being the most notable one. The matter exacerbated in mid-nineties with large scale violence and clashes erupting at the behest of indigenous Mizos and Bru- Reangs being at the receiving end (Reangs is interchangbly used for the Bru tribe).
To evade the persecution, the Reangs migrated to Tripura and other adjoining states and since 1997 have remained refugees in their own country. The community also demanded the Centre to form an Autonomous District Council (ADC) for them under sixth schedule in western Mizoram where they have significant presence. It’s not that the Governments both at centre and state levels did not try resolving the issue but lack of political will and north-east region remaining outside or at the best, peripheral conscience of the political leadership and babus in north block lingered the matter for more than two decades. Nine rounds of negotiations took place over the period and finally through the tripartite, the Reangs have been granted the citizenship.
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In light of the ongoing rounds of repatriations, the centre blocked the cash and food supplies to the tribe. This irked the already suffering community and they took to streets to mark their protest, blocking the highway in Mizoram. Taking cognisance of the issue the Centre took upon itself, to resolve the deadlock on war-footing.
More than 30000 Reangs would be rehabilitated in Tripura and will be accorded full citizenship status. This brings to resolution, the long drawn battle of survival for the community. However the government should also look after the condition of nearly 40000 Brus who are still settled in Mizoram. They have been living there for ages and the region is home for them, generations of Reangs have lived there. It would not be possible for each one of them relocating to Tripura, hence taking note, the governments should look after their welfare and security.
Though the citizenship issue of the community and their rehabilitation have been given the green signal but next vital step would be bringing them into the mainstream, making the community visible in government jobs, educational institutions, other state paraphernalia and amply providing socio-economic justice to them. It would be a litmus test of India’s credential of a ‘welfare state’.
