Celebrations by BJP workers over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act outside Ujjayanta Palace at Agartala in 2020 had prompted Pradyot Deb Barma to quit Congress and fight elections for the indigenous Tripuris.
On Thursday, Tipra Motha, the party he founded to fight against the possible fallout of the CAA, emerged as the second largest party in the Assembly elections by winning 13 out of the 60 seats in its maiden Assembly poll battle in Tripura. The party put up candidates in 42 seats after rejecting an offer for an alliance, both from the ruling BJP and the Opposition — CPI(M)-Congress — who got together for the first time in Tripura.
"Greater Tipraland," a separate state for the indigenous Tripuris (comprising about 30% of Tripura's population) and a constitutional safeguards for them was Tipra Motha's main poll plank and Pradyot rejected the offer for alliance without a written assurance about meeting its demands.
Gradually the party emerged as a strong contender in at least 20 Assembly constituencies reserved for the STs and on Thursday it clinched victory in 13 of them. Two of the winners are women.
In eight of them, Tipra Motha defeated candidates belonging to BJP and its ally, the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), another regional party that had fought polls in the past on the Tipraland issue. The IPFT, however, lost its strong tribal support base mainly for BJP's opposition to the Tipraland demand. IPFT won just one out of the five seats it contested this time.
Tipra Motha defeated CPI(M) candidates in four other seats on Thursday.
When asked about Tipra Motha's next course of action, Pradyot told television channels on Thursday, "We will sit in the Opposition if we don't find the constitutional solution for our people."
BJP and IPFT retained power for the second term by winning 33 seats (BJP: 32, IPFT: 1) but their tally decreased by 11 when compared to the 2018 elections. The CPI(M)'s count also came down from 16 in 2018 to just 11 while Congress bagged three seats. "Tipra Motha's stand definitely polarized the tribal voters and helped it win. But it also helped BJP by consolidating the non-tribal Hindu Bengali voters, who have become BJP's vote bank since the 2018 polls. The Bengalis are against Tipraland," Vikash Tripathi, who teaches political science in Gauhati University, told DH.
BJP said they are against the division of Tripura but promised in its manifesto to bring in constitutional amendments for more legislative, administrative and financial powers to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), where Tipra Motha is in power. Pradyot's party had defeated BJP and other parties in the council polls in March 2021.
In an interview to DH earlier, Pradyot had said the CAA would destroy the identity of the indigenous people by giving citizenship to a large number of non-Muslim (mainly Bengali Hindus) migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. He, however, made it clear that Tipra Motha would give up its anti-CAA stand if the demand for Greater Tipraland is fulfilled.
Tipra Motha is the only political party born out of the anti-CAA agitation in the Northeast that tasted electoral success. Asom Jatiya Parishad, another party formed out of the anti-CAA agitation in Assam, had contested the Assembly elections against the BJP in Assam in 2021 but failed to win a single seat. AJP leader Lurinjyoti Gogoi also campaigned for Tipra Motha in this election.
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