Agartala: As the Bharatiya Janata Party’s relationship with its alliance partner Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura sours, a regional party headed by former Congress state president Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma, is looking to make the most of what many see as an imminent split.
Tripura is likely to have its next assembly elections in February 2023.
Debbarma floated the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance – also known as TIPRA or Tipra Motha – as a political party in 2021.
Although Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Congress are poised to give a contest to the ruling BJP, the presence of Tipra complicates their chances in areas dominated by tribal populations.
The tribal-dominated areas contribute 20 seats – reserved for the Scheduled Tribes – to the 60-member state assembly.
In the recent Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) elections, Tipra had swept the polls by winning 18 seats out of 28. The BJP and IPFT alliance received a major blow with BJP managing 9 seats and IPFT, none.
Also read: Tripura: Major Blow for BJP-IPFT as Pradyot’s TIPRA Sweeps District Council Polls
The TTAADC polls are believed to have struck the death knell to BJP-IPFT ties, with indigenous MLAs of the latter quitting the party to join Tipra in large numbers.
Former IPFT MLA Dhananjay Tripura, who recently tendered his resignation and left for Tipra, believes more will follow him.
“Pradyot Debbarma is working not only for Tiprasa (indigenous people) but for everyone. He has come to save the rights of the Tiprasa people and that is why I have joined Tipra Motha to work for people and to help Pradyot Maharaj,” said Dhananjay.
The MLA claimed that senior leaders of the IPFT have neglected demands from within the party – such as those raised by Dhananjay – of a separate Tipraland for tribal people.
“Now there is no alternative. Triprasa people deserve actual freedom and rights. Since 2009 IPFT has been working for Tiprasa people but this party now has no guardian. Without a guardian, a party can’t last for long. At present, the Maharaj’s [Debbarma’s] call for Greater Tipraland is what we are supporting as Tiprasa. We will work with Maharaj,” Dhananjay told The Wire.
Calls for a ‘Greater Tipraland’ give voice to the demand for a separate state comprising the TTAADC area.
An MLA of IPFT, Brishaketu Debbarma, also joined Tipra but was disqualified from assembly by Speaker Ratan Chakraborty.
Dhananjay claimed that MLAs and leaders from various parties – “especially from IPFT” – have been contacting him and Debbarma.
Pradyot Debbarma said his party wants a written assurance of a ‘Greater Tipraland’ with any party possibly showing interest in forging an alliance. [Once that is received] then we will definitely have a conversation with whoever wants to. I have no problem speaking to any national party that accepts it. So far no official talk has taken place. There will be no alliance without assurance of demands and we will fight in more than 30 seats as we are not against any other community,” Debbarma said.
Thank you for ending all speculation ! 🙏 https://t.co/1CEjYU57zF
— Pradyot_Tripura (@PradyotManikya) October 22, 2022
He claimed that more leaders from IPFT will join his camp soon, along with some CPI(M) leaders.
Meanwhile, former tribal welfare minister and IPFT MLA Mevar Kumar Jamatia is in touch with Debbarma and “is ready to join the party along with other MLAs and leaders,” a leader at IPFT claimed, requesting anonymity. Jamatia was a close confidante of IPFT supremo N.C. Debbarma and has reportedly met Debbarma at his Agartala palace, in addition to having attended a Tipra event.
The IPFT leader added that IPFT and Tipra are already ideologically similar and this ensures that the MLAs do not face public censure for leaving one party and going to the other.
IPFT now has 6 MLAs remaining in the assembly.
A BJP MLA, Burbomohan Tripura, quit the party in September and joined Tipra. This has brought the BJP’s tally to 35 from 36.
Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma told The Wire that recent political changes in the state are not going to harm BJP.
“We are in the business of doing politics. We don’t believe in the art of fortune telling – that says everyone will go to Tipra Motha. This is a very impractical dream. One person has left BJP and joined Motha. IPFT MLAs are free to go where they want to. BJP has been with them since 2018 in spite of their party not having been in good shape. We don’t ditch alliances. Such things will never hamper BJP. And Tripra Motha is not a factor for BJP because the demographic of the seats in TTAADC and in the assembly are quite different, voters are different,” Dev Varma said.
On the issue, veteran journalist and political observer Shekhar Datta said that Tipra’s meteoric rise in state politics have dealt a big blow to BJP’s prospect for growth in the tribal-dominated areas as well as in the state’s 20 reserved seats.
“With its ethnocentric slogans and call for a ‘Greater Tipraland,’ the Tipra Motha has already greatly impacted the minds of the tribal electorate as is evident from the party’s victory in the ADC election last year and also in general mobilization of tribal voters. The BJP, on the other hand, greatly weakened its tribal base by not allowing its tribal organisation, the Janajati Morcha, to work properly in the tribal dominated areas,” Datta said.
Datta said that while former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb is considered to have been primarily responsible for keeping the Janajati Mocha dysfunctional, there has not been any improvement in the situation even after his ouster.
“Besides, Biplab’s over-dependence on their old ally, the eroding IPFT, seems to be costing the party dear as the IPFT itself is now on the verge of extinction following large scale desertion of workers,” Datta added.