Deb Barma warns BJP on Tipraland state ahead of Assembly polls in Tripura

In an apparent warning to ruling BJP ahead of Assembly elections slated early next year, Pradyot Deb Barma, Tripura's royal scion heading the regional TIPRA Motha on Tuesday asked the Centre to accept its demand for separate state for the indigenous Tripuris or face them in the elections.

"Today we are submitting our memorandum to the Centre to accept our demand for separate Tipraland state. Time is still there for the Centre. Accept it now or we will see you in the elections," Deb Barma said while addressing a crowd from Tripura at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. A large crowd from Tripura staged a sit-in demonstration on Monday and Tuesday at Jantar Mantar to press the Centre for fulfilling their demand for separate state.

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"Today, we will not meet any political leader. Otherwise rumors are spread about our alliance. I am not with anyone...I am with anyone who gives us a solution regarding the Tipraland state. This is our Constitutional right. You can talk to the Ulfa in Assam and Hurriyat in Jammu and Kashmir but not with us," he said while appealing the Centre to invite him for talks regarding the demand for separate state for the Tripuris. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks about Sabka Saath Sabka Vikash, but he does not think about the Northeast and the Tripuris," he said.

TIPRA Motha has become a strong political outfit since Deb Barman formed it soon after the CAA was passed in December 2019. The party won the elections in Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTADC) in March this year. It is likely to be a major political force during the Assembly elections in the TTADC areas having 20 out of 60 Assembly seats.

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"Let Rahul Gandhi also come out and speak clearly in favour of Tipraland," he said.

In 2018, BJP fought the Assembly elections with a pre-poll alliance with IPFT, another regional party representing the indigenous Tripuris and formed its first government in Tripura. The IPFT, however, has witnessed erosion in its support base mainly due to BJP's non-committal on Tipraland state.

"This is my last fight for the Tiprasa. They (BJP) are asking us to demand development instead of the Tipraland. But today let me tell you all that if we get the Tipraland, development will automatically come," Deb Barma said.