Calls for a separate state grow louder in Tripura

Regional party Tipra Motha has adopted the demand for a seperate state as their main poll plank

The demand for a seperate state for the indigenous Tripuri people is getting louder as the Tripura gears up for Assembly elections in early 2023.

Two political parties, Tipra Motha and IPFT — the regional ally of BJP in Tripura — began their two-day-long demonstration at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi demanding that the Centre commits to bifurcating Tripura by 2026, when a delimitation exercise is likely to be carried out.

"If we don't get the greater Tipraland or a separate state for sons of the soil of Tripura, our future will be at stake. We all must remain united to ensure that the demand is fulfilled. We will submit a memorandum to the Centre with a single point demand for Tipraland," Pradyot Manikya Debbarma, Tripura's royal scion and chief of regional party, Tipra Motha, said while addressing the supporters of the separate state at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday.

Nearly 1,500 people from Tripura have travelled to Jantar Mantar for the demonstration.

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Leaders of IPFT said although the Royal State of Tripura had merged with India in October 1949, unabated influx of people from neighbouring Bangladesh has reduced the indigenous Tripuri people into a minority. Tripuris now constitute about 30 per cent of Tripura's population (36 lakh).

Tipra Motha has adopted the demand for a seperate state as their main poll plank. The IPFT had similarly banked on the seperate state demand before the 2018 elections but it joined hands with BJP and became part of the government despite knowing that the saffron party is against the demand.

Pradyot's party, which won the elections in Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council in April, has already announced that they would tie up with any party accepting the demand for a separate state.

Trinamool Congress, which is eyeing to wrest power from BJP in 2023 is yet to make its stand clear on the separate state demand.

Priyanka Chaturvedi, an MP of Shiv Sena, who addressed the demonstration on Tuesday said the party would support the demand for seperate state for the Tripuris.

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