Union Home Minister Amit Shah waves to supporters at a public rally in Ambasa in Tripura’s Dhalai district on December 22, 2024. Photo credit: PTI
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday (Dec 22, 2024) hit out at Left parties for turning Tripura into a “backward” state during his 35-year rule and said it can only see progress after the BJP takes power in 2018.
Addressing a public meeting in Dhalai after visiting the village where the displaced Bru tribals were rehabilitated, Shah said that Tripura was lagging behind in all standards of development during the communist regime, but now it is on the path of progress.
“Communists ruled Tripura for 35 years. Communists claimed they worked for the welfare of the poor. Congress also ruled Tripura for a long time. But the people of the state always remained poor. This is when BJP came. The power to bear witness,” he said.
Mr. Shah said that when he visited Tripura in 2017 as BJP president and stayed for five days, only 11 people took party membership. “Slowly we started our work. We were able to remove the communists from power by working hard,” he said.
The Home Minister said that under the Left government, 2.5 percent of the people were getting drinking water from pipes, now 85 percent are getting drinking water.
He said that although free food was not given to the poor during the communist regime, now every person is getting 5 kg of rice and free treatment up to 5 lakhs.
Members of the Bru tribal community pose for a picture wearing traditional ornaments at a public meeting of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Dhalai on December 22, 2024. Photo Credit: ANI
Mr. Shah said that investment has come in Tripura and people are getting free electricity and LPG connection.
He said that now the school dropout rate is less than 3 percent and the enrollment is 99 percent, but it is very weak during the Left government.
“Tripura is calm now after signing the peace agreement with the rebels. With the blessings of Mata Tripurasundari, Tripura will become the most developed state in the country. Today I am extremely happy,” he said.
Regarding the resettlement of the Bru refugees, the Home Minister said that the BJP governments at the Center and the states decided to resettle 40,000 displaced persons.
“The Bruces were living in humanitarian conditions. But the Left government never took any initiative to improve their conditions. Now we are addressing it and already 11 villages have been built and one is under way,” he said.
Mr. Shah said Bruce is now enjoying all the freedoms enjoyed by any other Indian citizen.
They now have an Aadhaar card, they are enrolled in the electoral roll, they have a ration card and all this was ensured by the Modi government, he said.
He said that the rehabilitated will be given 1.5 lakh rupees for house construction, 4 lakh fixed deposit and 5 thousand rupees as monthly express for 24 months.
Bru migrants from three districts of Mizoram – Mamit, Lunglei and Kolasib districts – came to North Tripura district in 1997, 1998 and 2009 due to severe communal violence between the Bru and Mizo communities in Mizoram.
The Bru tribals were rehabilitated following a quadrilateral agreement signed on January 16, 2020.
Officials said an agreement was signed between the governments of India, Tripura, Mizoram and representatives of Bru organizations for the permanent resettlement of Bru migrants in Tripura.
About 70% of the Bru (Reang) tribe are Hindus while the rest are Christians.
A total of 12 sites have been identified for establishing resettlement colonies of Bru tribals in Tripura, out of which nine sites are on forest land and three are on government land.
These 12 selected locations are in four districts of Tripura – North Tripura, Dhalai, Gomti and South Tripura. A total of 754 acres of land has been provided to these families for rehabilitation.
published – December 22, 2024 04:53 PM IST