By Our Special Correspondent

There was a time-in not so remote past-when jamatia 'hoda okra' (head priest and supreme community leader) would order summary execution of his hindu tribal brethren found guilty of serious offences against the community. A chilling reminder of the power and clout wielded by the 'okras' of the-by now more than a lakh strong-hindu jamatia community is an incident that occurred in 1985. The golden 'garia' image (highest deity of the jamatia community) had been stolen from a makeshift temple at Koraikaplabari under Udaipur subdivision. The thieves were nabbed within a short while and the image was reinstalled after mandatory consecration. The six jamatia youths charged with the theft were ordered to be buried alive by the 'hoda' under the stewardship of the then all-powerful 'okra', forty seventh in the line, Siddhi Kumar Jamatia. No complaint against the order was ever registered with the police by anyone of the community. Since then pronouncement of death penalty-always the last option for 'hoda okras' has not been heard of but the supreme community leaders continue to hold near complete sway over the socio-religious and cultural affairs of the jamatia community. It is this clout and committed support of the tribal brethren that inspire the incumbent 'okras', 52nd in the line, to carry on their crusade against the banned NLFT militants. During the past three years jamatia 'hoda' has been the rallying point for Tripura's hindu tribesmen in their resistance against the 'gun-point conversion drive'of the church-backed NLFT rebels. Speaking on the issue noted scholar Dr Jagadish Ganchowdhury said 'jamatia tribesmen had always been favoured subjects of Tripura's manikya dynasty monarchs becasue they were the first to settle down to conventional cultivation on plainland and they formed the bulk of the 'maharaja's armed forces. Asserting that jamatia tribesmen have been orthodox hindus over the past five hundred years Dr Gan Chowdhury said 'because of their martial tradition jamatias have always been a proud community steadfastly preserving their religious faith and cultural tradition and you will be surprised to know that in their annual reports the erstwhile british resident commissioners have referred to at least two cases of sati among jamatia tribesmen in the eighteenth century'. The 'hoda' (community council) of the jamatya tribesmen is a unique institution without a parallel in any other hindu tribal communities in northeast or in the rest of the country. The institution of 'hoda' as a guardian of the community was launched in the year 1510 during the reign of king Dhanya Manikya (1490-1520) and incumbent 'okras', Mr Bikram Bahadur and Mr Haricharan Jamatia, elected by the community council for three years, are the 52nd in the line. In their continuing struggle against the outlawed NLFT militants under the leadership of Bikram Bahadur and Haricharan Jamatia the community has made lot of sacrifices. While both the 'okras' continue to be marked men as many as six innocent 'hoda' members lost their lives in NLFT attack at Noabari on September 2 this year. Earlier on December 29 last year as many as 21 'hoda' volunteers were kidnapped en masse though the search operation launched by jamatia youths as well as police personnel ensured the safe return of all of them. Before that the durga puja' pandal of 'okra' Bikram Bahadur had been fired upon by NLFT rebels at Hodrai under Teliamura police station area on October 3 last year. There has not been any major attack on the community or its leaders over the past two months but the threat and intimidation continue as the NLFT rebels have initiated a move to force jamatias to pay 'tax' denied them over the past few years at the instance of the 'hoda'. The secretary of the jamatia 'hoda' Mr Rampada Jamatia said on December 8-9 the 411 state conference of the jamatya 'hoda' will come off in Moupasha area under Amarpur subdivision to discuss a new strategy to protect the interests of the community in matters of religious faith, culture and community affairs. The conference will be attended by representatives of 321 jamatia 'paras' (localities) and 16 'mayals' (panchayats) spread over the West and South Tripura districts of the state where the jamatias are settled. Mr Rampada Jamatia said the 'hoda' would shortly launch a programme of setting up schools,'garia missions', orphanages and other cultural centres. A large plot of land has been acquired by the 'hoda' in the Atharobula area under Udaipur subdivision where the foundation stone of a huge complex was laid by Union Tribal welfare minister Mr Joel Oram on October 7. Mr Rampada jamatia said central intervention was an urgent need to resolve the problem of tribal militancy in Tripura but asserted that the jamatia community would carry on its struggle against all forms of militancy and violence to ensure proper development of the community in all respects.