Agartala, Jan. 1: If Bombay can become Mumbai and Madras renamed Chennai, why can’t Tripura be called “Twipra?” A million-rupee question, but being raised in the state by several organisations, led by the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT). Their argument: The renaming of Tripura to “Twipra” is a must for conformity with the tribal Kokborok language and its phonetics.
The issue is set to be the INPT’s main poll plank in the tribal-dominated areas for the forthcoming Assembly elections.
The demand was first raised, in passing, by INPT president Bijay Kumar Hrangkahwal at a public meeting jointly organised with the Congress at the Stable Ground in September.
Yesterday, his party general secretary Rabindra Debbarma went a step further by asserting at a party convention that “Tripuri tribals have lost everything, even the names in their own language. This must be restored,” he said.
Once named “Tribeg”, historically, the state has always been called Tripura, experts point out. Even in Rajmala, the court chronicles of Tripura’s Manikya dynasty, the land has been referred to by the present name. It became the official name after the British preferred to retain it.
But the issue took a new turn after the banned National Liberation Front of Tripura announced a programme of “de-Sanskritising” all names in the state, including individual names of tribals.
The historians argue that since the tribals of Tripura, including the Manikya dynasty monarchs, were Hindus who ruled for more than five hundred years, they have always adopted Sanskritised Bengali names for individuals and places.
Without directly blaming the settlers for this phenomenon, Debbarma said, “If Calcutta can be renamed Kolkata, Madras Chennai and Bombay Mumbai, what’s the harm in renaming Tripura “Twipra?”
He regretted that names of several places had lost their Kokborok character because of wrong pronunciation.
While the Congress refused to comment on the developments, a senior CPM leader said, “The matter cannot be approached so casually as there must be a rationale behind the change in names.”
A student of Agartala College, however, felt that the demand for change in nomenclature was “correct as the state must get back its true Kokborok character”.
With several tribal organisations supporting the INPT’s campaign, it is only a matter of time before the issue takes centrestage in the state.