News Analysis India

Tag: TIPRA

  • Demand for Greater Tipraland will not be diluted at any cost: TIPRA supremo Pradyot Kishore Debbarma

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: Tripura Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) supremo Pradyot Kishore Debbarma has reiterated that the demand of Greater Tiprland will not be diluted at any cost.

    There has been a conspiracy by a strong lobby to confuse Tiprasa (indigenous) people that TIPRA will dilute its core demand of Greater Tipraland, he said in a video tweet on Friday night.

    The statement came after media reports that TIPRA may drop its Greater Tipraland demand if the Centre promised to provide 20,000 government jobs to Tiprasa people in one year.

    The report went viral on social media.

    Claiming that so many people had a hand in creating confusion in Greater Tipraland, Debbarma said the CPI(M) had been in power for 25 long years but did little for the welfare of Tiprasa.

    “I did not say that TIPRA will drop its Greater Tipraland demand if 20,000 government jobs are provided to Tiprasa people. I had said that if the Centre offers a package of Rs 2000 crore or Rs 20,000 crore it will go to the pockets of contractors, politicians or Members of District Council (MDCs). Instead of a package, the Centre can give 20,000 jobs to Tiprasa people,” he said.

    “Giving 20,000 jobs will be an economic solution only but we want a constitutional solution for Greater Tipraland. I will not dilute the demand”, he said.

    He said, “We don’t want to be out of India and will continue to fight against illegal migration holding the national tricolour at border. The TIPRA is demanding that the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) and some surrounding areas be made into a separate state for the indigenous tribal people from Tripura.”

    The Tipra supremo further said there will be no alliance or merger either with the BJP or somebody else if a writing assurance of giving Greater Tipraland is not ensured.

  • Ruling BJP handed defeat in Tripura tribal council polls

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: The BJP on Saturday suffered a shock defeat at the hands of The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) elections.

    The newly-floated TIPRA, an umbrella body of tribal parties, swept the polls, winning 18 of the 28 seats. The combine of BJP and Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), which rules the state, won nine seats while the other seat went to an independent candidate. Left Front and Congress drew a blank.

    The polling, held on Tuesday, recorded a voters’ turnout of 85%.

    The TIPRA, headed by Tripura’s royal scion Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman who had earlier served as the Pradesh Congress chief, was floated a few months ago. The state’s oldest tribal political party Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) is a TIPRA component. It was earlier a Congress ally.

    The TTAADC was constituted in 1985 under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution for the socio-economic development of the state’s tribals. The council’s jurisdiction is spread over two-thirds of Tripura’s 10,491 sq km area and home to 12.16 lakh people, 90% of which are tribals.

    The term of the TTAADC, of which the Governor is the constitutional head, had expired on May 17 last year but the elections could not be held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By promulgating the Governor’s rule, the state government had appointed a retired IAS officer as its administrator for six months. Later, his tenure was extended by another six months.

    The demography of Tripura underwent a major change as a result of migration from then East Bengal and subsequently, from Bangladesh. The tribals in the state have for long been demanding a separate state and they also waged an armed struggle.

    In 2009, the IPFT started agitating demanding that the TTAADC areas be upgraded to a separate state. The TIPRA too has raised the demand for a “greater Tipraland”.