Tripura: Amit Shah Heads to Bru Settlement; Congress to Hold Protest Over Ambedkar's ‘Insult’

Agartala: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit the Bru (Reang) settlement camp at Bruhapara and speak at a public gathering at Masuraipara in Dhalai district on Sunday after chairing the 72nd plenary session of the North Eastern Council (NEC) in Tripura on Saturday. Before departing the state, Shah will also speak at the national cooperative convention held at Rabindra Satabarshiki Bhavan.

The Home Minister, who was instrumental in resolving the 23-year-old refugee issue, will be visiting the camp for the first time since the historic Bru settlement agreement, which was reached in July 2018, to evaluate the situation on the ground.

Up to 37,000 Bru refugees sought refuge in six relief camps in the North Tripura area in 1997 after fleeing ethnic conflicts in Mizoram. Nine repatriation phases saw about 5,000 return, but nearly the same number fled to Tripura in 2009 following resurgent hostilities

In 2020, an agreement was made to permanently resettle the Brus, more than 20 years after this lengthy displacement, which has grown to be the largest internal displacement in the Northeast. Two years prior, the migrants had rejected a deal that sought to return them to Mizoram, claiming that sufficient consultations had not been held.

Many Bru people barricaded the national highway at Haduklau in Ambassa, Dhalai, last month, calling for the establishment of new village committees and the distribution of agricultural land at 13 Bru resettlement sites. Even though it was eventually disbanded, the movement brought attention to the calls for the distribution of agricultural land to the Bru people who had been resettled.

Following opposition rallies against Dr. B R Ambedkar during the Winter Session of Parliament, the Congress is planning protest marches to call for Amit Shah's resignation for "insulting" Ambedkar during a speech in Parliament. As part of its "Ambedkar Samman Saptah," the grand old party will launch a week-long campaign on the subject starting on Sunday.

Party MPs and leaders will hold press conferences at 150 places nationwide on December 22 and 23, and on December 24, workers will march in protest, according to K C Venugopal, the party's general secretary (organisation).

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