Origins
During the 1940s the royal house of Tripura tried its best to maintain its political rule over the state. However, monarchy was challenged by movements that were influenced by the Indian National Congress and the Communist Party of India. These associations proposed democratic reforms, but were not with stern resistance from the royal house. In 1946 members of Janamangal Samiti (People’s Welfare Association), Janasiksha Samiti (People’s Educational Association), the local cell of the Communist Party and individual leftwingers got together to form the Tripura Rajya Prajamandal (Tripura State Popular Assembly). Prajamandal proposed a form of constitutional monarchy for the state.
The Prajamandal included both communists and non-communists. In 1948 a ban on the organisation was proposed, on the ground that the organisation was under the influence of communists in East Pakistan. This spurred the non-communist leaders of Prajamandal to try to expel the communists. However, the ban was enforced before the expulsion had taken place. Leaders of Prajamandal were arrested, and many cadres went into hiding. By not differentiating between communists and non-communists in repressing Prajamandal, the royal government indirectly contributed to increasing the support for the communist within the organisation. On Independence Day Prajamandal took out a militant manifestation in Agartala. Simultaneously, the movement started activating itself in the struggle for tribal land rights. Following the Partition of India, a major wave of Bengali Hindus migrated to Tripura from East Pakistan. On the Tripura countryside Bengali money-lenders started to take over agricultural land from indebted tribals. Prajamandal organised resistance, a struggle that radicalized the movement.
On several sites the movement resulted in clashes with the state forces. In October police firing in Bishalgarh killed nine tribals and injured twenty more. The military set up camps in the tribal areas, with the objective of rooting out Prajamandal. The Prajamandal leadership considered that it had no possibility to cope with the increasing repression, and decided to dissolve the association.
In the void that emerged after the disappearance of Prajamandal, tribal leaders founded the Tripura Rajaer Mukti Parishad (Tripura State Liberation Council, generally called Mukti Parishad). Mukti Parishad raised demands of witdrawal of the DIR and freedom of expression and association. The slogan of the movement was 'Democratic Rights for the People of Tripura'.
Read more about this topic: Ganamukti Parishad
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