Give us Greater Tipraland, we will not talk about CAA: Pradyot Bikram

Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barma quit as president of Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee in September, 2018, amid the agitation against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Deb Barma launched a regional party, The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) Motha in December 2019 when the bill was passed and the Northeast rose up in protests.

The stand against the CAA and rights of Tripura’s indigenous people were the main issues as TIPRA Motha contested and won the elections to Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous Districts Council (TTAADC) in April 2022.

The party now plans to contest in 35 of 60 Assembly seats in 2023 Assembly polls, out of which tribals hold the sway in at least 30. In an interview to DH’s Sumir Karmakar, Pradyot Bikram, the scion of Tripura’s Manikya dynasty, said the demand for Greater Tipraland state would be their main poll plank. Pradyot, now a prominent face of politics in Tripura, talked about recent change of CM, his party’s strategy, challenge from Trinamool, reasons for Congress’ debacle and more.

Do you think the recent change of Chief Minister by ruling BJP will have a bearing in the Assembly elections in 2023?

BJP will have to answer to the people. Why someone, who was the face of BJP since 2016 and was seen as face of the BJP government (Biplab Kumar Deb) was changed five or seven months before the elections? Is it because of non-performance? If that is the case, then BJP has admitted indirectly that their development model has not worked.

What is going to be the main poll plank for your party in the Assembly elections?

For us, it will be greater Tipraland. Our agenda will be very clear, we want a constitutional solution for our people. And until the constitutional solution is given to us, we will not compromise. We are confident that we will do very well as long as we remain committed to the agenda for our people.

Trinamool Congress is also eying to win the 2023 elections. How big a challenge is TMC going to be?

Every political party has the right to contest the elections. But I believe they will have to do a lot more than what they are doing right now to become a credible challenger.

Are you open for a tie-up with any other party?

We will not go for any alliance with any other party till they give us in writing that they will support our demand for Greater Tipraland within parameters of the Constitution. If they don’t agree, we will fight ourselves for rights of 14 lakh Tiprasas. We have spoken to all the parties, everybody is aware of our demand. Now it is for them to come up in writing.

You talk about unity of all indigenous people. But IPFT, another regional party representing the indigenous people, are part of the BJP-led government.

IPFT has to make up their mind. Do they want to be in power or do they want to speak for the people? They have lost in Lok Sabha elections and all the seats they contested in the autonomous council elections. People had voted for them (in 2018) because they spoke about Greater Tipraland. They have not raised the issue in the Parliament and they are with BJP, which has openly said that they are against Tipraland. So IPFT is looking like a B team of the state government. There are many good individual leaders who are committed. Most of them have either joined us or will be joining us very soon.

Trinamool is saying that people of Tripura will vote for a change like in 2018 when they removed the 25-year-long CPI (M) government and brought BJP to power.

I can’t speak for everyone. But I know that the tribal people are quite fed up with the political system now prevailing in Tripura and they want a constitutional guarantee. They will vote for nothing short of a constitutional guarantee. The financial package is not enough. And regarding the general area, I think now, people of Tripura, particularly the Bengalis, should consider floating a party, which will serve the interests of the local people in general areas. The national parties have treated them in a very sub-standard manner.

You are talking about the tribals and the Greater Tipraland. But Tripura has a large Bengali population. How are you trying to reach out to them as well?

My family has always been very close to the entire Bengali diaspora. I understand and support the sentiments of the Hindu Bengali community. Being a Hindu myself, we have rehabilitated many Hindu Bengalis in Tripura. So why should I be against the Hindu Bengalis? All I am saying is give the tribals a constitutional protection, I am not asking for taking away rights of the Bengalis. We are just asking for further strengthening our rights.

But will not your stand against the CAA impact your party’s prospect, particularly in the areas where Bengalis are dominant?

Regarding the CAA, I have said that rights of the tribals must be protected. The CAA should not happen on the lines of religion. Give us Greater Tipraland and we will not talk about the CAA. You’ve excluded Mizoram. You’ve excluded Aruncahal Pradesh and Nagaland even as they don’t share the border with Bangladesh. Why? What is the logic? So why not exclude us? We have already taken responsibility (of the displaced Hindus). Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have not accepted a single displaced Hindu from Bangladesh. Why were they exempted? So all I am saying is equal distribution of the displaced people across the country. For the first time, we have a regional party that is not talking against the Bengalis but only talking about empowerment of tribals. History is a testament that my family has never been against the Bengalis.

Lastly, being a former leader of the Congress, why do you think the party is going down so fast? Manipur is a recent example.

Because it has not invested in strong leadership. There are good leaders in the Congress; its ideology connects with a lot of Indians. But the fact is till the time you do not invest in leaders who have some characters, some background and some level of commitment towards the people; till the time the commitment is towards a post, towards a position and not towards the people, the congress Congress will continue to suffer. The party needs to re-invent itself.