Bru settlement in Kanchanpur has, once again, triggered trouble as Joint Movement Committee (JMC) called another round of indefinite strike from Monday.
The JMC is a platform of local Bengalis and Mizo people. This platform is vehemently opposing mass resettlement of Bru Reang Refugees at Kanchanpur sub-division. Notably, the Bru refugee rehabilitation decision was taken after a multi-cornered meeting held in New Delhi in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in early 2020. These Bru people fled Mizoram and took shelter in North Tripura after an ethnic clash in 1997.
Even after the rehabilitation deal, resentment among local Bengali people and Mizo people living in Jampui hills was palpable and under the banner of JMC, they held several protest programmes and strikes urging the government to go for mass Bru rehabilitation at Kanchanpur sub-division.
One of the JMC leaders Sushanta Bikash Barua said, “We have already clarified the matter that we will not allow more than 500 families of Bru refuges to be settled in the Kanchanpur sub-division. But, the government seems determined to settle 5,000 families of Bru refugees here in Kanchanpur. Already tender process has been initiated for electric connections and makeshift huts for the Bru refugees. So, we have decided to call a general strike for an indefinite period in the Kanchanpur sub-division from Monday”.
Sources said, JMC’s agitation is not new for people of the Kanchanpur and they always get the support from almost all quarters of the society owing to their series of movements against the mass Bru-settlement in the Kanchanpur sub-division.
JMC is opposing the Government decision citing that mass resettlement will disturb the already fragile ecological balance in the area. Moreover, local people – both the Bengalis and Mizo people – consider Bru people trouble makers.
Due to alleged involvement of Bru people in anti-social activities including vandalizing shops during anti-CAA movement, people of Kanchanpur sub-division, irrespective of ethnicity, are opposing Government’s plan to resettle more than 500 Bru families in the sub-division.
However, the JMC’s strike has already triggered a sense of panic in the local markets and people have been spotted in buying spree.
North Tripura police superintendent Bhanupada Chakraborty said, “Adequate security arrangements will be put on place to avert any untoward incident. We have gathered news only now and we are finalizing the security arrangements in the sub-division”.
