The Tripura Peoples Front led by iron-lady Patal Kanya Jamatia, fighting the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 since the passing of the draconian legislation by the Union government of India, has whole-heartedly welcomed the amicus curiae intervention by the UN Human Rights Council chief Michelle Bachelet. Though late in the day, it is heartening to note that the UN has realised that the CAA is not an internal matter of the country but a matter or survival and identity for people of Tripura and others in the North East.

THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF TRIPURA AND THE NORTHEAST have heaved a sigh of relief and satisfaction at the UN move to challenge the constitutionality of the CAA in the Supreme Court of India.

Spelling out the special situation of the people of Tripura, the leader of the people’s movement across the state -Patal Kanya Jamatia has said, “it is important for the United Nations to appreciate our situation and not club the people of this region with the whole country.”

The reported step of the United National Human Rights Council to approach the Supreme Court of India and seek a decision on the Citizenship Amendment Act has been appreciated and welcomed by the Patal Kanya Jamatia -the president of the Tripura Peoples Front.

Congratulating the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a press release, Patal Kanya said, “We are pleased to note that the UN has intervened and taken up this matter. Undoubtedly, this matter is not an internal matter of India. It concerns us all and especially the international community to ensure compliance of India’s international commitments.”

The Tripura Peoples Front has said that “the UN is opposing the CAA due to the fear that the illegal Muslim immigrants will become stateless in India.”

“The Narendra Modi-led BJP government has introduced CAA to provide safe passage and residence to illegal Hindu migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan immigrants to make India a Hindu Rashtra, destroying not only the secular fabric of India but also threatening the very existence and survival of the indigenous peoples of the North East.”

The Tripura Peoples Front is categoric that “India is a federal country with various languages, ethnic and cultural diversity and people of no any particular religion can be a dominating people to the detriment of the other.”

The indigenous peoples of Tripura are in a particularly perilous situation and India has failed to protect all sections of society by not following the principle of equality before law and the Constitution of India.

Explaining the peculiar situation of Tripura, Patal Kanya said that ‘one man’s goose is another person’s gander.” “While the CAA is illegal and wrong for everyone in the country, the NRC may not be significant in many areas of the country, but the NRC is crucial in Tripura and other parts of the North East for our very survival and existence,” she added.

“Nothing short of the implementation of the UN Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will be acceptable to the people of Tripura and I appeal to the UNHRC to take strong initiatives under various international instruments, covenants and treaties towards this end.”

Patal Kanya Jamatia, chief, Tripura Peoples Front

The press release noted that, “It is quite evident that after the Assam experiment the NDA government is not inclined to protect the people of Tripura who have been drastically reduced to a minority by the illegal influx Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims for the last seven decades. The indigenous people of Tripura are reduced to minority from 93 per cent to 19 per cent due to illegal intruders and are being persecuted endlessly in their own homeland, their identity is threatened, the lands have been snatched and they are on the brink of socio-economic and political disaster.”

“Nothing short of the implementation of the UN Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will be acceptable to the people of Tripura and I appeal to the UNHRC to take strong initiatives under various international instruments, covenants and treaties towards this end,” warned Patal Kanya.