Insurgency in Tripura

Insurgency inTripura
Part ofInsurgency in Northeast India
LocationofTripurain themapofIndia
Date 1989 – 2024 (34 years) Location Tripura,India Status Indian Government victory Tripura Peace Accordsigned between rebel groups and Indian Government 2024 Tripura Peace Accordsigned in September 4, 2024 between NLFT, ATTF and the Indian Government ending the insurgency. Territorial changes Indian governmentrecaptures theterritoryseized byrebelsand withdrawsAFSPAfromTripurain 2015.
Belligerents
India	TNV(until 1988) NLFT(until 2024) ATTF(until 2024) BNCT(until 2008)
Commanders and leaders
Ramaswamy Venkataraman Shankar Dayal Sharma Kocheril Raman Narayanan APJ Abdul Kalam Pratibha Patil Pranab Mukherjee	Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl Biswamohan Debbarma(POW) Nayanbasi Jamatia(POW) Ranjit Debbarma(POW) Dhananjoy Reang
Strength
28,031Police Personnel	850-1050 (NLFT) 200-400 (ATTF)
Casualties and losses
2000–2024: 214 killed	2000–2024: 355 killed 1106 Arrested 3824 Surrendered
2000–2024:704 civilians killed
1997:Dhananjoy Reangsurrendered in 5 February 1997Tripura. 2008:Nayanbasi Jamatiaarrested inBangladesh. 2012:Biswamohan DebbarmaandRanjit Debbarmaarrested in Bangladesh. 2013:Nayanbasi Jamatia handed over to theIndian government. 2017:Biswamohan Debbarma and Ranjit Debbarma handed over to the Indian government.

Theinsurgency in Tripurawas an armed conflict which took place in the state ofTripurabetweenIndiaand several separatist rebel organisations. It was a part of the widerinsurgency in Northeast Indiaand was fueled byTripuris.

Background

Tripura, literally meaning "land adjoining water", is located in the extreme southwest corner of the Northeast. Following India's independence in 1947, Tripura acceded to the Indian Union in 1948 as a "C" category state. It became a Union Territory in November 1956 and attained full statehood on 21 January 1972.

Tripura's demography underwent a major change as a result of illegal migrants and refugees from formerEast Bengaland subsequently fromBangladesh.Tripuris were pushed to the hills and the politics and administration in the state became dominated by theBengali-speaking and immigrants.

It was the particular reason which had creatednational consciousnessamong thelocal populations.The continuous neglect on theimmigrationissue had led to a direct confrontation betweenIndian nationalismand the newly createdTripuri nationalism.The parallel rise ofnationalismin the other states of theNortheast Indiahad further complicated the situation more, resulting in a deadlyarmed conflictbetweenIndiaandrebel groupsthus, creating the insurgency on ethnic lines as a Tribal versus Bengali conflict.

The first militant outfit to form wasTripura National Volunteers (TNV).It was active until 1988. However, most prominent ones wereNational Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT)andAll Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF).

These groups had various demands. NLFT wanted to establish an independent Tripura and ATTF wanted to finalise the Tripura merger agreement. However, all of them wished to removeBangladeshisimmigrants who had enteredTripuraafter 1950 despite their ideological differences.

Anti-Bengali sentiments of Tripuri rebel groupshad given birth to theUnited Bengali Liberation Front.The group wanted to protectBengalisin Tripura from militants. This group was supported by the Bengali Dominated Communist Party which supplied arms and infrastructure.

Internal conflicts among them had divided NLFT into NLFT(B) led byBiswamohan Debbarmaand NLFT(N) led byNayanbasi Jamatia.ATTF which was a right wing organisation of NLFT had become its own militant organisation led byRanjit Debbarma.

Those groups had received the major blow when Biswamohan Debbarma, Nayanbasi Jamatia and Ranjit Debbarma were all arrested in their hideout camps in Bangladesh. It is estimated that some of those armed cadres are still present at their hideout camps atChittagong Hill Tracts,Bangladesh.