Tripura Bru organisation demands corrigendum from CM over remarks on community origin

An organisation representing Tripura’s Bru community has requested Chief Minister Manik Saha to issue a corrigendum after he reportedly made an error regarding the community’s origin during a recent public address.

The incident occurred on October 8 in South Tripura’s Bagafa, where the Chief Minister reportedly referred to the Bru community as originating from the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh and described them as “second settlers” in Tripura. BPO President S K Msha clarified in a statement that the Brus, also known as Reangs, are in fact aboriginal sons of the soil of Tripura.

The Bru People Organisation (BPO) submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister’s Office, noting that prior to India’s partition, the ancient Kingdom of Tripura extended across regions now in Bangladesh, Mizoram, Assam, and Manipur. While some Tiprasa people now reside outside India, the Bru community has always remained rooted within Indian soil, sharing the heritage, culture, and lineage of Tripura.

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Msha emphasised that the Chief Minister’s statement was unintentional, but its circulation on social and digital media has caused deep emotional concern and misunderstanding among the Bru community. The BPO has urged the Chief Minister, who is currently in Delhi, to clarify the ancestral and historical identity of the Bru community.

“Such a gesture would heal the wounded sentiments, uphold historical truth, and reinforce social harmony and unity,” Msha said.

The Bru people, displaced from Mizoram during ethnic violence in the 1990s, had been living in relief camps in Tripura. Following a 2020 agreement signed in New Delhi, over 8,000 Bru families were permanently resettled across different parts of the state.