Row between civil society and Tripura government over Royal Palace

A Press Release

Photo : Abhisek Saha

Tripura's ruling Left Front government has decided to shift the Tripura State Museum to Ujjayanta Palace which housed the state legislative assembly till 2012. The new museum is scheduled to be inaugurated by Vice President of India – His Excellency Hamid Ansari on September 25.

But there is no trace of Ujjayanta Palace's original legacy and grandeur retained in the new nomenclature of the facility. The state government has been deliberate in this attempt to change the name of the 112 year old historical palace. The palace was recently declared as a heritage building by the state government which brings it under the jurisdiction of Heritage Buildings Act. Subsequently, such a name-change which is feared to obliterate the entire legacy of Ujjayanta Palace and the glorious past attached with it, becomes illegal. Ujjayanta Palace is the heritage of Tripura and not just a medium of recollection of the monarchal regime.

There have been numerous attempts of reasoning with the state government over this issue on a simple demand of retaining the name Ujjayanta in the new nomenclature. It was demanded to be renamed as Tripura State Ujjayanta Museum though all efforts have gone in vain. It appears that the initiative is a deliberate attempt at undermining and humiliating the history of Tripura.

Ujjayanta Palace is directly associated with the centuries old history of the royal kingdom and the cultural heritage of the people of Tripura, right from its initial construction by Maharaja Radha Kishore Manikya in 1898-1901. The people of Tripura from all walks of life, irrespective of caste, creed & religion and the different political ideologies respect the legacy of the monarchs of this state and are proud of the rich cultural heritage. Surprisingly, the ruling government has totally ignored and undermined to recognize the sentiments and emotions of the state's populace by renaming the facility simply as Tripura State Museum without any reference of the glorious Ujjayanta Palace.

Photo : Abhisek Saha

It is the need of the hour to rise to the occasion and to approach to the Govt. of Tripura for re-consideration of the naming of the Museum as Tripura State Ujjayanta Museum in place of Tripura State Museum.

A massive rally of at least 8 thousand people, mostly youths, held the biggest ever candle-light rally of Agartala on Sunday evening demanding immediate stoppage of renaming Ujjayanta Palace, erstwhile abode of the Tripura monarchs as Tripura State Museum. The rally was organized by the Twipra Students Joint federation (TSF) and Joint Action Committee constituted by a number of NGOs including the Indigenous Youth Federation of Tripura (IYFT), Royal Tripura Foundation (RTF) and others.

The palace has been breeding ground of one of the biggest controversies of recent time for past two weeks or so. The Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT), regional tribal political party of Tripura, first raised the issue over renaming the palace. Deletion of the word Ujjayanta is aimed at hurting sentiments of tribal populace of the state, INPT President Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl said. Vice President Hamid Ansari is scheduled to inaugurate the museum on September 26. Hrangkhawl, in a letter to the Vice President recently stated that renaming Ujjayanta Palace is likely to cast serious effects on the indigenous populace if not amended. The TSF had organized a deputation to Governor of the state – Devanand Konwar on September 21 protesting against the omission of the original name of the palace in its new avatar. The candle light rally held today is in continuation to the agitation, a leader of the student body said. We shall continue our stir till the government agrees to our demands, whatever the consequences might be, he added.

The candle-light rally organized by TSF covered over 7 Km of the city including several significant public places. It met in front of the palace at 7:15 pm. Speaking to reporters after the end of the rally, Pradyot Bikram Kishore Debbarma, current head of the Tripura royal family, who led the rally this evening, said, "Ujjayanta Palace is a historical spot. It doesn't belong to the members of erstwhile royal family alone, neither it solely belongs to the government. Ujjayanta Palace belongs to Tripura and somebody in the government cant suddenly impose a decision to change its name one fine morning". "I demand that the proposed name of the museum be amended to Tripura Ujjayanta State Museum or anything which has got Ujjayanta in it. Having a name is not what I am speaking for. Ujjayanta is a remembrance of the rich past that we had. We want to have it in the name and we will have it", he added.

The to-be museum now sports a large plaque with 'Tripura State Museum' written on it at the top of the entrance. There is no trace of Ujjayanta anywhere near it. Organizers of the rally added that in accordance with section 5 (2), clause C of the Tripura Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1997, the decision of the state government in changing name of Ujjayanta Palace is against the law. They also sought a rethink over the decision if there is any Heritage Conservation Committee formed in the state.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar recently announced, Ujjayanta Palace would be declared a heritage building which brings it under the jurisprudence of the Ancient Monuments and Heritage Buildings Act Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, later amended in 2010. It would be completely illegal to conduct such a name-change which potentially destroys the very identity of the palace, Pradyot Bikram Kishore maintained.

Photo : Abhisek Saha

Rahul Debbarma, barely a student of the 12th standard in Ramkrishna Mission Vidyalaya, a religious trust run school in the outskirts of Agartala city, joined the rally this evening alongwith his friends. Asked why he came to the rally, an angry Rahul said, "I have come because I think I have something to say about the decision of the state government in renaming the legendary Ujjayanta Palace. I think people should join us irrespective of social, cultural, spatial, political or any other bias for the sake of the rich cultural heritage, history and pride of the state". "If the state government wants to stay adamant to their decision, so will be us. This is a democracy and you can't just destroy a heritage like that", says an angry Rahul. Every participant in the rally had a lot of visible anger at the state's ruling Left Front government's decision to rename Ujjayanta Palace and brand it as the Tripura State Museum.

"We have no objection to state museum shifted to the palace. It's the property of the state and everything is alright. But they have to maintain Ujjayanta in the name or else we aren't going to tolerate it", says Moloy Debbarma, another student of a school in the city. He studies in the 10th standard. Manik Debbarma, a man in his late forties, joined the youngsters in the rally as well. "I think the government should learn from the youths here. If they are trying to make a stand on the name change, I think it is worth it. Ujjayanta Palace is not just a building from the monarchal regime. It is a live testimony of the cultural richness and heritage that we used to have. If the government is trying to push politics into it, they would be making it a mistake. Better be warned before it is late", said he. Biswajit Kalai, General Secretary of TSF, condemned the renaming of the palace and said, "According to Article 11 of the United Nations Declaration on the right of indigenous people, the indigenous peoples have the right to practice and revitalize their cultural traditions and customs. This includes the right to maintain, protect and develop the past, present and future manifestations of their cultures, such as archaeological and historical sites, artifacts, designs, ceremonies, technologies and visual and performing arts and literature. Any decision going against the UN declaration should be taken up at the higher level for consideration". "We will not tolerate such an injustice. These are tactics of the state's left government to hurt our sentiments and create disunity among the tribal and non-tribal communities", he stated.

Tripura Pradesh Congress veteran Tapas Dey criticized the state government's decision to change the name of the palace as Tripura State Museum when contacted. "This is an unfortunate decision of the state government. Ujjayanta is not just a palace. It has got memories of the city so closely associated with it that nobody should try to distort it". "Distorting Ujjayanta is distorting Tripura", he said.

Ratan Chakraborty, incumbent Chairman of the Tripura Pradesh Trinamool Congress reacted to the state government's decision of changing name of the palace as well. Asked about his take on the decision, Chakraborty said, "If Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar can advise the opposition to learn constructive opposition, I suggest he and his colleagues first learn something of constructive ruling. Imposing any decision on the people just because you have a majority in the assembly is not democracy". He demanded immediate stoppage of the decision to change name of the palace saying, "I am strongly against the decision to change the name of Ujjayanta Palace. This palace is not related to the erstwhile royals of Tripura alone; it is blessed with the memory of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. We demand immediate amendment of the name and retention of Ujjayanta in whatever form it is conceptualized".

The Ujjayanta Palace served as Tripura state legislative assembly till 2011. The palace was built during the regime of Maharaja Radha Kishore Manikya during 1899-1901. The royal family is reported to have spent Rs. 10 lakh despite financial constraints at the time. The earlier royal palace of the Tirpura monarchs was located 10 Km away from Agartala. A devastating earthquake left it in shambles in 1897 following which Martin & Burn Company was assigned to build the new palace which was later named by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore as 'Ujjayanta Prashad'. The palace is operational since 1901.

Opposition leader Sudip Roy Barman on Sunday wrote to Chief Minister Manik Sarkar suggesting change in the proposed name of Tripura State Museum. "I fervently request you to urgently intervene in the issue and ensure that the sign-board be changed either to Ujjayanta Govt. Museum or Ujjayanta State Museum", Roy Barman wrote in his letter to the CM. Terming the controversy over renaming of the palace 'grave', he said that the initiative of renaming the palace has totally Delinked the facility from its historic past and the name 'Ujjayanta' Which denoted the palace for over a hundred years? "To do away with the history by depriving the building from its century-old identification would be a glaring example of gross disregard to publicsentiment which has already started boiling on this sensitive issue", he added in his letter.

On anticipating a mass uprising, the cornered Tripura government is a Press release on Monday has stated that the state Museum will be known as "Tripura State Museum, Ujjayanta Palace" and the state government has also agreed to install a statue of the builder of the palace Radha kishore Manikya very soon.

The civil society in Tripura sees this as a moral victory that the government has been finally been cornered of the issue and that have responded, but the mass movement would continue since there popular demand to name the palace as Ujjayanta Museum.

Photo : Abhisek Saha