This book examines the roots, nature, governmental performance, and theoretical and policy implications of left radicalism in Tripura. The case of Tripura is placed in comparison with her neighbours in the region, and in some cases with India's advanced States in governance matters.
Tripura in India's Northeast remains the only region in the world which has sustained a strong left radical political tradition for more than a century, in a context not usually congenial for left politics. Tripura is one of the 29 States in India which has returned the Communist Party of India (Marxist) led Left Front repeatedly to power. By contrast, radical ethnic politics dot the political scenario in the rest of the region.
This book examines the roots, nature, governmental performance, and theoretical and policy implications of left radicalism in Tripura. The case of Tripura is placed in comparison with her neighbours in the region, and in some cases with India's advanced States in governance matters. Based on original archival and the very recent empirical and documentary sources on the subject, the author shows that the Left in Tripura is well-entrenched, and that it has sustained itself compared to other parts of India, despite deeply rooted ethnic tensions between the aboriginal peoples (tribes) and immigrant Bengalis. The book explains how the Left sustains itself in the social and economic contexts of persistent ethnic conflicts, which are, rarely, if ever, punctuated by incipient class conflicts in a predominantly rural society in Tripura. It argues that shorn of the Indian Marxism's 'theoretical' shibboleths, the Left in Tripura, which is part of the Indian Left, has learned to accommodate non-class tribal ethnicity within their own discourse and practices of government. This study demolishes the so-called 'durable disorder' hypothesis in the existing knowledge on India's Northeast.
A useful contribution to the study of radical left politics in India in general and state politics in particular, this book will be of interest to researchers of modern Indian history, India's Northeast, and South Asian Politics.
This is an excellent study of the highly complex historical trajectory of political life in Tripura. Its distinctiveness lies in the fact that it analyzes Tripura's radical politics in the broader context of the general dominance of the politics of ethnic identities in India's Northeastern region. Based on an interesting methodological combination of archival-historical research and empirical ethnographic observation, this study offers a nuanced and complex understanding of the paradox of the remarkably durable electoral success of a Left party in a region dominated by identity-based mobilization.
Sudipta Kaviraj, Professor of Indian Politics and Intellectual History and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies, Columbia University, New York, USA
Professor Harihar Bhattacharyya is the most distinguished Indian political scientist working on Tripura. This volume provides a rich and informed understanding of radical politics in a state and region that has been neglected by mainstream specialists for too long. Professor Bhattacharyya is to be commended for his painstaking effort in challenging the conventional assumptions about Tripura and the north-east region. A must-read volume for all those interested in radical politics and the governance challenges facing the north-east states.
Gurharpal Singh, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, SOAS, University of London, UK
