Agartala: An organisation representing Tripura’s Bru community on Tuesday said Chief Minister Manik Saha had “inadvertently” made an error regarding the community’s origin in a recent speech, and urged him to issue a clarification.
According to the Bru People Organisation (BPO), the remark was made during a programme in South Tripura’s Bagafa on October 8.
“In the event, the Bru (Reang) community was referred to as originating from the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh and as second settlers in Tripura. In reality, they are the aboriginal sons of the soil of Tripura,” BPO president S.K. Msha said in a statement.
Brus are also known as Reangs.
The BPO, which submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister’s Office in this regard, said that before the partition of India, the ancient Kingdom of Tripura was spread over regions now in Bangladesh, Mizoram, Assam and Manipur.
“Hence, while some Tiprasa people (indigenous residents of Tripura) may today reside beyond India’s borders, the Bru (Reang) community has always remained firmly rooted within Indian soil, sharing in the same heritage, culture, and bloodline that define the great Kingdom of Tripura,” Msha said in the statement.
The BPO maintained that the chief minister’s remark was made without any deliberate intention to misrepresent the community. However, the statement “has nonetheless caused deep emotional distress and misunderstanding among members of the Bru (Reang) community after its widespread circulation on social and digital media,” the BPO president said.
“The BPO has earnestly urged the chief minister to issue a corrigendum clarifying the ancestral and historical identity of the Bru (Reang) community,” he said.
Such a step, he added, would help heal the community’s hurt sentiments, uphold historical truth, and strengthen social harmony and unity.
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The Bru people, who had to leave their homeland Mizoram, following ethnic violence in the 1990s, had been living in relief camps in the state. Over 8,000 Bru families were given permanent settlement in different parts of Tripura after an agreement was signed in New Delhi in January 2020.
