THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN THE EASTERN INDIAN FRINGES: THE CASE OF TRIPURA

From the dawn of human civilization, the history of mankind has recorded multiple events of conflicts, battles & wars. But it has never witnessed something destructive & devasting like World War II (1939 -1945). This global conflict between Allied & Axis powers lasted for 2191 days, involving as many as 110 million armed soldiers from 72 nations. At least 50 million people lost their lives in this great war among them 28 million were innocent civilians. Major cities across Europe and Asia, including Berlin, London, Warsaw, Tokyo, and Hiroshima, were extensively bombed and reduced to rubble. In the initial stage, the war was only confined to European nations though their colonies in Asia & Africa were indirectly affected severely. But with time, the African colonies caught fire from this war and in later stages, it spread all over Asia. India, being a British colony at that time was pushed into the war by its colonial masters who looked over the will of Indian masses. The British Government exploited India's valuable resources and labour force for the War preparations. The heat of the war also reached Tripura, a small princely state under the British Suzerainty. The involvement of Japan in the Second World War and its hasty advancement on the eastern front changed the whole scenario of the war from the Indian perspective. The fall of Burma at the hands of the Japanese brought the war to the very door of India. As a result, Tripura and the northeastern region fell under the direct threat of the Japanese offensive. In this paper, I have attempted to sketch a picture of Princely Tripura of that time concerning the Second World War. Here I have discussed extensively about the threat of Japanese invasion, economic strains, military organizations, war preparations, and other administrative activities in the state, all centred around the Second World War. In the middle of the war, the Congress-led ‘Augst movement’ or ‘Quite India movement’ increased difficulties for the trouble-torn British Raj. The turmoil created all over the country by the ‘Quite India Movement’ also impacted the state of Tripura. Here I also tried to track down the events related to the ‘Quite India Movement’ in Tripura during the war and how the ruling class of princely Tripura met those challenges. In a nutshell, through this paper, an attempt has been made to shed light on the relevant events, that took place in princely Tripura during the Second World War and analyse different events & developments related to it from various socio-economic and political aspects. Nevertheless, this paper is a small initiative for the history enthusiast to enhance the understanding of the role of Tripura in a global phenomenon like World War II and to reconstruct the events in a systematic way to conduct further study. KEYWORDS: Allied power, Axis power, Tripura, British suzerainty, Northeastern India, Invasion, Burma.