Witoubou Newmai
Amidst hullabaloo over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) across India, a humanly ambience charmed the conscience of humanity when the ‘homeless’ Bru people were given ‘homes’ in Tripura permanently.
The signing of a pact between the Central Government, the Government of Mizoram, the Government of Tripura and the Bru-based organizations on January 16, 2020, to end the Bru refugee issue tells us that there is still an element of humanity in the society.
As this pact saw the culmination of the two-decade-old imbroglio that was responsible for the estranged relationships between communities and also the neighbouring states of Tripura and Mizoram for this long, we will be failing in our duties if we ignore to appreciate the spirit behind the signing of the pact.
As a way of presenting the background of the Bru refugee issue, we would like to reverse the clock back to 1997 where the issue began.
It was reported that troubles between the Mizos and the Brus (also referred to as Reangs) that led to the fleeing of the latter to Tripura was triggered by the killing of a Forest guard hailing from the Mizo community allegedly by the Bru National Liberation Front in 1997. Prior to this incident, there were clashes of Brus and the Mizos following the demand for creation of an autonomous council for the Bru community that was fiercely opposed by the Mizo community. Following the Mizo backlash against the Brus after the Forest guard killing incident, thousands of Brus fled to Tripura. The refugees have been living in six relief camps in various places in Tripura since then.
There have been irregular reports regarding the number of Brus fleeing to Tripura from Mizoram. But it is understood that the number could be anything from thirty thousand to forty thousand.
It is also worthwhile to recall here that between 2009 and 2019, the Centre, the Mizoram Government and the Tripura Government had made at least nine attempts to repatriate the Bru refugees from Tripura to Mizoram but only 8000 Brus returned to Mizoram. Brus were not willing to return to Mizoram on reasons such as security and “unattractive” rehabilitation package.
However, the hardship of the refugees became a thing of the past with the January 16, 2020 ‘quadripartite’ agreement.
What is unique about the culmination of the Bru refugee imbroglio is the serenity in the run-up to the signing of the pact and loads of applauds from various quarters which followed, unlike any other issue.
Now the over 30,000 displaced Bru tribals from Mizoram will be settled permanently in neighbouring Tripura following the pact. The Bru community is happy with this act of humanity.
