With the announcement of the Assembly elections in Mizoram, about 35,00 Bru refugees presently taking shelter in six camps of North Tripura whose ration supply have been discontinued for last two weeks started putting pressure on Central Government for resuming the ration and allow them to stay back in the camps.
Also read: Mizoram: Bru refugees lodged in Tripura camps demand resumption of ration
Notably, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs through a notification issued last month had stopped free supply of ration to the refugee camps thus to compel the Bru refugees to go back to Mizoram.
However, in spite of the strong stance of the Central Government, only a few thousand Bru refugees had repatriated to Mizoram.
The process of repatriation of the Bru refugees was initiated after the agreement between the Central Government, the state governments of Tripura and Mizoram and Bru representatives in July early this year.
This new pressure tactic by the Bru refugees on the Central Government has, on the other hand, put the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a tight spot as it was eyeing to make inroads into the political landscape of Mizoram during the ensuing Assembly polls.
But now as the Bru voters are refusing to deport and are pressurizing the Central Government to fulfil their demands, this might prove fatal for the BJP.
A silent rally led by the newly formed Mizoram Bru Displaced Peoples’ Co-ordination Committee was brought out by the Bru refugees from Naisingh Para camp on Monday.
The protesters walked a distance of eight km as a mark of protest.
Later, a memorandum addressed to the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was handed over to the sub-divisional magistrate Naba Kumar Jamatia by a four-member delegation team.
In addition to the demand for ration supply, the Bru refugees also forwarded a seven-point charter of demands as pre-condition for returning to their ancestral homes in Mizoram.
These include the formation of an autonomous district council for Brus in Mizoram, five hector of land for each family, Rs four lakh to each family at the time of repatriation, among others.