BANGALORE (Feb.27)—North eastern states are 20 to 25 years behind the rest of the India, and if we still allow widening the gap, we will be 40 to 45 years backward, said Kirit Pradyot Deb Barman, the current king of the Royal House of Tripura, yesterday evening here in the city.
 |
| Principal of the college presenting a gift to the king of Tripura |
The king was the chief guest for the day where north east and Tibetan forum at the St. Joseph College for Arts and Science, held the mini international cultural and food festival on its college campus, and oddly three thousand people gathered there for the mini international program.
 |
| North east students performing their unique dance in their traditional dress |
The forum was initially initiated by some of the north east and Tibetan students in the college, 2007, and this year, it was the fourth time that this north east and Tibetan forum was show casing their own cultural differences and uniqueness at the college.
Kirit Pradyot, the royal king said that many people not are aware of this, but ethically I am a Tibetan-Burmese, indigenously I am a person of Tripura, but our constitution puts us as tribals. I would like to see as indigenous but we are tribals.
“You are the ambassadors of north east. When I say north east, I don’t mean only Tripura but Mizoram, Assam, Nagaland, Darjeeling, Aranunchal Pradesh, and Manipur. We all have one common problem to the rest of the nation. We need quality education and we need economic development.” The king said “I went to Delhi many a times with our demands but the only words that I got from them is that ‘oh north east is in a trouble area, we will think about it and we will make a committee to solve the problem.’ But just words, no action at all.”
 |
| Tibetan students performing cultural show |
No, that’s not the way how to work, we have to be united and we need an agenda how to develop the troubled regions, said the king.
“We are all tribals as the constitution claims but you all are privileged to be admitted into such a prestigious college, and you all have to prove that you are capable of everything, but not to anyone, not to the nation but to yourselves.”Said the king.
There are around 1000 north eastern students and one hundred Tibetan students in the college.
“I am often questioned by many people that how I admitted such a huge number of north east people, and I told them that north east is not a one state, there are many states. Students from north east studying here belong to the different tribes and communities consisting of eight states and 150 tribal languages.” The principal of the college, Dr. (Fr.) Ambrose Pinto Sj said “Tibet, of course is different. There is no Tibetan state as yet. People of Tibet are rootless and homeless. It is necessary to provide them the support they need to create a home as they struggle.”
No comments:
Post a Comment