After chairing the 72nd plenary session of the North Eastern Council (NEC) on Saturday in Tripura, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to visit the Bru (Reang) settlement camp at Bruhapara and address a public meeting at Masuraipara in Dhalai district on Sunday. Shah will also address the national cooperative conference at Rabindra Satabarshiki Bhavan before leaving the state.
This will be the first time since the historic Bru settlement agreement, signed in July 2018, that the Home Minister, who played a key role in settling the 23-year-old refugee issue, will visit the camp to assess the ground reality.
As many as 37,000 Bru migrants fled ethnic clashes in Mizoram in 1997 and were sheltered in six relief camps in North Tripura district. Nearly 5,000 returned in nine phases of repatriation, but almost the same number fled after renewed clashes in 2009 and came to Tripura.
More than two decades after this protracted displacement, which has become the largest internal displacement in the Northeast, an agreement was signed in 2020 to permanently resettle the Brus. This came two years after an agreement seeking to repatriate them to Mizoram was rejected by the migrants, citing a lack of proper consultations with them.
Last month, a large number of Bru people blockaded the national highway at Haduklau in Ambassa, Dhalai, demanding the creation of new village committees and allocation of agricultural lands at 13 Bru resettlement locations. The agitation, although withdrawn after some time, highlighted the demands for allocating agricultural land for resettled Bru people.
Cong’s weeklong protest over Shah ‘insulting’ Ambedkar
After Dr B R Ambedkar became the subject of protests by the Opposition during the Winter Session of Parliament, the Congress is set to hold protest marches to demand the resignation of Amit Shah for “insulting” Ambedkar while speaking in Parliament. The grand old party will observe a weeklong campaign on the issue beginning on Sunday as part of its “Ambedkar Samman Saptah”.
Opposition MPs hold portraits of Dr. BR Ambedkar during a protest, demanding Amit Shah’s resignation. (File Photo)
Party general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal said party MPs and leaders will hold press conferences at 150 locations across the country on December 22 and 23 and workers will take out protest marches across the country on December 24.
“Our agitation demanding Home Minister Amit Shah’s resignation will continue! We will fight to protect Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s legacy against the Manusmriti worshippers,” Venugopal wrote on social media.
The weeklong campaign will coincide with the Congress Working Committee’s meeting on December 26 to mark 100 years of the 1924 Indian National Congress session, presided over by Mahatma Gandhi.
State funeral for O P Chautala
On Friday, the Haryana government declared a three-day statewide mourning following the death of former Chief Minister O P Chautala, who held the post for five terms. Chautala, the former president of the Indian National Lok Dal who passed away in Gurugram on Friday, is set to be accorded a state funeral at Teja Khera farm in the Chautala family’s native Sirsa district on Sunday.
– With PTI inputs
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