ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some evidence showing the growth of the Tripura Upajati Juba Samity (TUJS) as an electoral force in Tripura. It reviews some approaches– Communist Party of India (Marxist– Leninist) CPI-ML, Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI-M, semi-academic, and journalist– to the understanding of the TUJS. The chapter assesses its merger into a new political party Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT) as a vehicle of Tribal ethno-nationalism in Tripura. The social roots of the TUJS so far as its leadership is concerned are to be traced to the birth of a new group of educated tribal youths who found no jobs, and a section of whom increasingly came under the impact of Christianity. The chapter presents evidence from both local- and national-level newspapers on the TUJS both during the June 1980 riots and since 1988 when it became a partner in governmental power. The political biography of the TUJS was rather unusual.
