The Tripura Merger Agreement was the official agreement under which the erstwhile Kingdom of Tripuri joined the state of India.
Background
The
State of Tripura was one of the
princely states of India. According to the ''
Rajmala'' ("Chronicles of Kings"), Tripura was ruled continuously by as many as 184
Tripuri kings with sovereign and independent status prior to its merger with the
Indian Union in 1949, after the death of the last ruling King,
Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarman
Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur (19 August 1908 – 17 May 1947) was a king (or ''Maharaja'') of Tripura State. He is known as "the architect of modern Tripura".
He was succeeded by his son, Maharaja Kirit Bikram Kishore Debbarman, who was ...
. His successor,
Kirit Bikram Kishore Deb Barman, was thirteen years old at the time of the merger. King Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarman had died in 1947, after which a Council of Regency government formed under the presidency of Queen
Kanchan Prava Devi, mother of Kirit Bikram Kishore Deb Barman.
Within a few months after the unnatural demise of the King, Tripura faced a crisis, with internal threats and threats from external forces such as
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...
. The Queen came under severe pressure to join the Indian Union. On the advice of the
Government of India
The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...
, she dissolved the Council of Regency and became the Regent on 12 January 1948. More than a year later, on 9 September 1949, she signed the Tripura Merger Agreement with effect from 15 October 1949. Under the agreement Tripura became part of the Indian Union. It was thereafter administered by a Chief Commissioner as a 'C' category state.
Message by the then Minister of Home Affairs
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ''Vallabhbhāī Jhāverbhāī Paṭel''; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, was an Indian independence activist and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime ...
, the then Minister of Home Affairs, offered the following message on the occasion of the Merger of Tripura on 15 October 1949.
References
{{reflist
*''
Sardar Patel's Correspondence'', Vol. 8, pp. 530–531
External links
Official site of present Tripura state
History of Tripura (1947–present)
1949 in India
Political integration of India
1949 documents