Tripura tribals pin hope on Tipra Motha ahead of polls

Tipra Motha is focussing on the 70 per cent tribal voters and in at least 21 constituencies under the TTADC

The white two-storied markets on both sides of the road connecting NH-44 to Khumulwng, the headquarters of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTADC) wore a deserted look. Almost all shops remained shut despite it not being a holiday. "Most have gone to Maharaja's rally," young Gobindo Deb Barma told DH as he sat idle in his shop selling handicraft items produced by tribal women.

They had gone to Mohanpur, one of the 42 Assembly constituencies where Tipra Motha, the regional party led by Tripura's Royal scion Pradyot Deb Barma has put up candidates with "Greater Tipraland" as the main poll plank. "All here will vote for Maharaja this time," Gobinda said. Tipra Motha rejected an offer for alliance both from the ruling BJP and Opposition left and Congress combine without a "written assurance" on "Greater Tipraland."

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Khumulwng is about 30 km from Agartala. About three kilometers away at Ramnath Thakurpara village, Surjya Deb Barma, a science graduate, looked blankly when asked why the tribals wanted "Tipraland". "Only a separate state can make us majority again and protect our land," he said. "Tribal people were the majority in Tripura but in the past few decades, we have been reduced to a minority," he said.

"Many Bengalis had migrated from Bangladesh and settled in Tripura. Their population is more and so we became minorities. Now we don't get a job or employment opportunities," said Surjya, 26, who also did a two-year diploma in medical laboratory technology in Guwahati (Assam). Surjya is still unemployed as there are no big hospitals or medical laboratories in the TTADC areas yet.

"The new state will bring more funds, more projects and jobs for us too," he said, clarifying that he is not a member of any political party.

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Tipra Motha is focussing on 70 per cent of tribal voters and in at least 21 constituencies under the TTADC. Set up in 2020 during the anti-CAA agitation, Motha hopes that tribals would vote against the national parties, who are opposed to "Greater Tipraland." "We will defeat all those against the rights of the indigenous people," Pradyot had told DH earlier. Pradyot is the descendant of the Tripura Royal family, which decided to merge Tripura Princely state with India in 1949.

A teacher at Khumpui Academy, one of the two government-run English medium high Schools at Khumulwng, said tribal areas need more English-medium schools and colleges. "Almost all the government-run schools are Bengali medium. Why would the tribals study in Bengali medium schools? In this way we will lose our language and culture," he said, requesting anonymity. Khumpui Academy, at present, has over 2,500 students. "We are overburdened," he said.

Nearly 70 per cent of Tripura's geographical areas fall under the TTADC, an autonomous council set up in 1982 under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
Most tribal voters in the 2018 Assembly elections had voted for IPFT, another regional party, which had also demanded Tipraland. The IPFT had entered into an alliance with BJP after the saffron party promised to address the demand. But no steps in the past five years on the Tipraland issue led to IPFT's debacle in the TTAADC elections in March 2021. Tipra Motha is now in power in the council. Many here said the tribals are unlikely to vote for IPFT and BJP alliance this time to vent anger for not giving Tipraland state in the past five years.

The CPI (M) and Congress, however, exuded confidence that the tribals would vote for them, like in the past, as most realised that the division of Tripura, a tiny state, is not feasible. BJP too has alleged that Pradyot Deb Barma is trying to incite the tribals to come to power.

Satyajit Reang, a tribal candidate fielded by CPI (M), however, told DH that the demand for "Greater Tipraland" is nothing but another "lollipop" to the tribal voters for power. "There is no problem between tribals and non-tribal residents. But politicians are trying to create distrust again," he said.

The growing demand for "Greater Tipraland," however, has made non-tribal Bengali voters like Premadhar Bhowmick at Khumulwng worried. "Do they want the Bengalis to leave?" he asked. The TTADC areas have nearly 30 per cent of tribal voters. Bengali intellectuals in Tripura say although the state witnessed the migration of Bengalis from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) after the Partition, Bengalis have a long history in the state.

The 60-member Tripura Assembly goes for polls on February 16.