The 18 member Left Front ministry led by Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, sworn in on 7 March 2003, has an important task before it – bringing the decades-long insurgency to a decisive end. This would prove its credibility before the public and the state’s credibility as being capable of providing the good life to its citizens in a secure environment. Peace is also required for development. Governments have come and gone but the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) continue to create terror in the State.

This is the third time in succession, and the fifth time since Tripura achieved statehood in 1972 that the Left Front has been given the mandate to govern. It has an absolute majority with 41 seats in the 60-member Legislative Assembly, elections for which were held on 26 February 2003. The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) won 38 of the 55 seats contested. The Congress also had two spells of power in 1972 and 1988. This time, however, it allied with the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT), only to realize it was a mistake after getting just 13 of the 42 seats it contested. INPT got six seats, one more than what it had in the previous Assembly.

The parties that have been in power have remained ineffective to address militancy in their various avatars. Thus, while the earliest militancy in the State in the post-Independence period can be traced to Seng Krak (meaning clenched fist) formed in 1947 to ‘fight’ against Bengali immigration, genesis of the outfits currently operating is rooted in interests of dissenting leaders of the Tripura National Volunteers (TNV).

Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl, who now leads the INPT, which has been accused by the CPI-M of being the NLFT’s political front, formed the TNV in 1978. He was earlier associated with the Tripura Upajati Juba Samity (TUJS). Another militant organization, All Tripura People’s Liberation Organization (ATPLO), was formed by dissenting TNV cadres with Binanda Jamatia as one of its leaders in 1980, after Hrangkhwal announced TNV’s dissolution subsequent to his release from jail the same year, only to revive it in 1982. Meanwhile, ATPLO also suffered from intra-organizational feuds between the factions led by Binanda Jamatia and another ATPLO leader, Chuni Koloi. The former is alleged to have abducted Hrangkhawl and his family in 1982, whom Koloi subsequently rescued. ATPLO became defunct with the surrender of Binanda Jamatiya and his followers in 1983. But the TNV continued its bloody campaign till 1988 when it signed a Tripartite Accord with the Union and the Tripura governments. The NLFT, responsible for many of the worst terror campaigns in Tripura, was formed in 1989 under Dhananjoy Reang, another disgruntled leader from the TNV. Yet another dissenting TNV leader, Ranjit Debbarma, formed the ATTF, initially as the All Tripura Tribal Force in July 1990. Defection, dissolution and emergence of new outfits have continued in the State; the Borok National Council of Tripura (BNCT), Jamatiya and Biswamohan factions of the NLFT are just few examples.

Militancy in the State reflects the personal ambitions of the leaders who were never sure of the ‘cause’ for which they were fighting. With cadres of the NLFT and ATTF being accused of running extortion rackets, this might reflect their unwillingness to give up their material comforts by sustaining the militancy. However, the militants also influence political outcomes in the State. In this election a NLFT-INPT nexus was alleged. NLFT terrorists allegedly influenced the votes polled for a particular candidate, if not the result. Similarly, the ATTF reportedly intimidated voters and campaigners alike. While the NLFT killed scores of CPI-M activists and supporters, including 11 in an attack on January 26 in West Tripura, the ATTF also killed a couple of IPFT leaders. The militants who purportly  fight for tribal rights also kill them mercilessly.

This election also demonstrated the alienation between the insurgent groups from the public. Tripura recorded the highest voter turnout of approximately 72 percent among the four States that went to the polls on February 26. People voted defying ATTF’s diktat for boycotting the polls, but they also voted according to their own wishes against the NLFT. Had the people considered any of these outfits as truly representing their interests, the outfits would not have used violence, though unsuccessfully, to intimidate them. The new government must make sure that the people, who have confronted the militants to elect their representative for providing governance, are provided adequate security, as the NLFT may intensify violence out of frustration.