Agartala Aug 20: The territory of the princely Tripura was much bigger than present-day Tripura. During the period of the Manikya dynasty, Chakla Roshnabad comprising Brahmanbaria and Sylhet etc, was part of princely Tripura. The contentious point is why and how people of Brahmanbaria and Sylhet etc who came to Tripura after the partition are being called ‘refugee’ – the deep study and deliberations on this issue is needed, said ICA Minister Sushanta Chowdhury.

The Minister was speaking at a discussion meeting titled ‘Princely Tripura & Freedom Movement’ – the event was organized by Tripura Digital Media Society (TDMS) at Agartala Press Club on Saturday.

Among others Associate professor of Ramthakur College, Dr Ruma Bhattacharjee who is doing her research works on the event topic, Secretary of Agartala Press Club Pranab Sarkar, Director of ICA Ratan Biswas, veteran journalist Jayanta Bhattacharjee and president of TDMS Suman Debroy were also on the dais.

Chowdhury said, “We – people of Jati and Janajati - are living in Tripura in peace and harmony owing to the vision of the Kings of Tripura – especially Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Bahadur.

Taking a swipe at the previous Left Front government, he said, “There was a time when there was an attempt to distort history by denying the role of Tripura kings in the development of the state”.

The Minister hailed the efforts of the TDMS in highlighting the roles of kings and people of princely Tripura during the country’s freedom struggle.

“A day after we celebrated the 114th birth Anniversary of Maharaja Bir Bikram, such a programme is an enlightening and very much relevant event”, he asserted.

Referring to the research works of Dr Ruma Bhattacharjee, the Minister said her research would bring out the untold stories of Tripura’s involvement in the freedom struggle and enrich the people of the State to a great extent. 

Pointing out that media is also an industry; the Minister reiterated the incumbent government is media friendly. Apart from empanelling a number of websites with the ICA, the government is also working to give accreditation to 300 media persons and brought the eligible media persons under the Health insurance scheme.

Dr Ruma Bhattacharya who is researching the unsung heroes and contribution of princely Tripura in India’s freedom movement made a detailed presentation on the topic. She said there were many people hailing from the then princely state of Tripura like Sachindra Lal Sinha, Debaprasad Sen and many more who contributed to India’s Independence.

Secretary, Agartala Press Club, Pranab Sarkar congratulated the TDMS for arranging such a program that commemorates the 76th Independence Day and he exuded confidence that the web media would play a crucial role in disseminating information.

Ratan Biswas, Director ICA Tripura while addressing the program urged the digital media platforms to keep their sites updated on a regular basis so that people can avail all sorts of information on the tip of their fingers.

Senior journalist of the state, Jayanta Bhattacharya also presented a prelude to the topic - Princely Tripura and Freedom Movement of India – in a lucid manner.

Earlier a sit-and-draw competition was held in which around 100 children took part. After the discussion meeting, the children who participated in the sit-and-draw competition were awarded trophies and certificates in various categories As well as consolation prizes were also distributed among the participants.