GUWAHATI: The Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) lamented that it had fought the 2018 elections together with the BJP hoping to achieve a separate state for the tribals in Tripura but the saffron party-led NDA government did not even discuss the demand.
The tribe-based party has decided to ditch the BJP this election to be able to put up a united fight along with another tribe-based party TIPRA Motha to secure “Greater Tipraland”.
“We have been fighting for Greater Tipraland since 2009. Taking this demand along, we had aligned with the BJP and fought the last election and won it. We had raised the demand in the Assembly from time to time. However, the central government has neither responded to us nor discussed the demand even once. There is no point aligning with a party if the demand does not get a push,” IPFT president and state minister Prem Kumar Reang said after a closed-door meeting with TIPRA Motha chief Pradyot Manikya Debbarma, reportedly in Guwahati on Saturday night.
“We thought we should join those forces which are fighting for Greater Tipraland. We have decided to fight the polls together with TIPRA Motha,” he added.
Debbarma, the royal scion, said the two parties agreed to start a process of becoming a singular party and fighting with a singular flag and symbol against anyone opposed to the “Constitutional demand” of Greater Tipraland.
“We will sit down and jointly announce it to the people of Tripura who want unity. Parties are not as important as the will of the people. Two and half years ago, there were 10-11 regional parties. With us coming together, we will all be speaking in one voice because our demands are the same. Why can’t we come together and make New Delhi listen to our genuine demand of a Constitutional solution?” Debbarma said.
He said parties including Congress, Left and BJP had approached TIPRA Motha but “we want a Constitutional solution in writing.”
Without it, he said, TIPRA Motha would not align with any party because “we cannot betray our people.”
“For far too long, parties have come and verbally promised to us and then, let us down after elections. This time, we are not prepared to take anything less than a written assurance from Government of India or the political parties. Otherwise, we will fight the elections on our own. We will fight to win and show the might of indigenous people,” Debbarma added.
TIPRA Motha holds sway in 20 of the state’s 60 seats. The 20 seats are spread across tribal areas. The state will go to polls on February 16.