By Sujit Chakraborty, IANS
Kamalnagar (Tripura) : The macabre killing of 31 people by tribal separatists in this hilltop village on Independence Day eve three years ago is still fresh in the minds of local villagers. But the spirit of nationalism is far too strong to let the memory cower them down.
“In our Kamalnagar Junior Basic School, we have always raised the national flag, sung the national song and distributed sweets. We shall do so even this year, come what may,” said Haradhan Sarkar, an elderly farmer.
Sarkar lost seven of his family members in the massacre of Aug 14, 2004.
Come Independence Day and rebel groups in Tripura step up attacks and call for a boycott of the national celebrations. This year too things are no different. Yet the impoverished residents of Kamalnagar, about 85 km from state capital Agartala, have defied such diktats despite paying a heavy price.
“The separatists have attacked our village at least six times as we never obey their diktats to boycott Independence Day or Republic Day celebrations,” Sarkar said.
The 100-odd families, most of them into farming or pulling cycle rickshaws or daily wage earning, have stayed put in their village on the foothills of Baramura hill range despite being regularly attacked by wild elephants and separatists.
Rebels raided their village in 2004 and killed 31 people – their only fault was they decorated the local school as part of Independence Day celebrations, defying calls for boycotting the function.
The trigger-happy militants did not even spare Sarkar’s six-year-old granddaughter, Supriya, who was fast asleep on her mother’s lap in an adjacent house.
Kamala Sarkar, 51, a widow, said: “I lost my husband, son, daughter-in-law and my granddaughter in the carnage and now I am living with my two daughters.
“I will educate my daughters so that they can teach others in the village,” the unlettered woman said, tears welling up in her eyes.
The All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) and the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), the two banned militant outfits, along with other northeast extremist groups operating from neighbouring countries want people to boycott the celebration of national days.
“We have fought for India’s independence and achieved it due to the sacrifice of a large number of patriots and now our youths are destroying our hard-earned freedom in the name of militancy,” said Jiten Paul, a renowned freedom fighter and editor of Tripura’s first daily newspaper Jagaran.
Tapas Dey, a former legislator, said: “The ethnic militancy that began two-and-a-half decades ago, ostensibly to reclaim the state for the once-majority tribal population, has clearly degenerated into the mindless killing of people.”
Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, however, sounded determined to flush militancy out of the state.
“Our people are determined to eliminate militancy for a better future and all round development of the state,” the chief minister told IANS.