By IANS,
Agartala : A section of people of Tripura’s erstwhile royal family and some leaders had tried to join Tripura with the then east Pakistan, but democratic minded people thwarted that move, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said Friday.
“Despite his opposition, Tripura’s last king Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur (1923-1947) had perceived that it would not be possible to hold back the state from the affairs of greater India. It was just before his death (May 17, 1947) he decided that Tripura should join India,” Sarkar said while addressing a statehood day function here.
Tripura, along with Manipur and Meghalaya, celebrated their 40th statehood day Friday with colourful functions and numerous programmes.
Sarkar said: “After the partition of India, lakhs of refugees came to Tripura from the then east Pakistan (now Bangladesh) making the indigenous tribals a minority.”
“Three-decades old terrorism hampered the progress and ethnic harmony of Tripura. Now, Tripura has become a model state in India in curbing militancy to a large extent.”
“When the whole world is ridden with the problems of violence, the wave of extremism has subsided in Tripura, even though it could not be totally rooted out yet,” he added.
Sarkar also said that Tripura is now among the four or five leading states in India in various development fronts.
The chief minister also claimed that by the next two to three years the state will achieve self sufficiency in food production, power generation, 100 percent success in literacy, drinking water supply, health services and other vital sectors.
“There would be no remote place in the mountainous state with the next few years though there would be some distant places due to geographical nature,” Sarkar claimed.
The erstwhile princely states of Tripura and Manipur had merged with India in 1949 and became union territories before getting the status of full-fledged state Jan 21, 1972.
Meghalaya was formed as an autonomous state April 2, 1970 after being carved out of Assam and became a full-fledged state Jan 21, 1972.