Kokborok, the main tribal language, spoken largely by the Tripuris, was ignored and Bengali instituted as the official language. This was partly the fault of the Tripuri royalty, descended from the Manikya clan, for they encouraged and even adopted Bengali as the language of adminstration. A range of professionals—from lawyers and teachers to accountants and doctors—migrated and settled in the state, which once extended into present-day Burma and West Bengal. Efforts were made to protect the tribal population by reserving land for settled agriculture but this did not work out very well, and led to extensive encroachments.

As the population density began to rise dramatically, the demographic profile of the state changed. At the time of independence, there was a slim tribal majority. By the end of the twentieth century, the Tripuris and other tribes were barely 28 per cent of Tripura’s population. In less than 25 years (1947-1971), not less than 600,000 immigrants moved into little Tripura.4

Thus, in the space of less than fifty years, a tribal-majority state has become a ‘mainland-majority’ area, where the language, culture, land rights and political mandate of the original settlers have virtually disappeared and been replaced by an aggressive culture, drawing its moorings from neighbouring lands.

As political control slipped out of the hands of the ‘natives’ to the Bengali-speakers, a process of radicalization began in the hills. This was where the tribals now lived, to where they had been pushed, and where they found a breathing space, however inadequate. Efforts to restore lands to the original owners after the Bengalis had bought over or encroached upon large areas backfired in two ways. First, they were far from adequate and secondly, efforts by the state government to meet Tripuri concerns resulted in fears of dispossession and worse among the Bengalis.

Irrespective of whether the Communists or the Congress Party were in power, the situation has remained the same.

For many years, the Congress party ruled, but after the 1970s, Tripura lurched to the left. The Congress had an alliance with the TUJS, or Tripura Upajati Jamatia Samaj, which represented tribal interests. The latter rarely won more than a handful of seats. The Communists had several prominent tribals in the rank and file as well as leaders, such as Dasrath Deb who went on to become a chief minister in the 1990s but had to step down because of failing health.

Tripura’s leftward move in 1978 coincided with a similar development in West Bengal. Since then, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has controlled the state’s destiny, although there has been a recent consolidation of Congress power.

Over the years, the emotional and political anger against the Bengalis has been building up. A series of militant organizations found voice but just as quickly died out, unable to sustain any momentum. In 1978, Bijoy Hrangkhawl formed the Tripura National Volunteer Force, with assistance from another insurgent group, the Mizo National Front of Laldenga.