AK Misra’s visit: Tipra-Motha firm on demand of ‘Greater Tipraland' state for tribals

The opposition Tipra Motha , which has been demanding ‘Greater Tipraland' or a separate state for the tribals under Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution, met the Centre's envoy and advisor to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) AK Mishra on Tuesday.

Adding a new twist to the long pending tribal development issues and sparking speculation for the forthcoming Lok Sabha Election, the Advisor to the Union Home Ministry A K Mishra had a two-day stormy visit and left the state this afternoon. He met the Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha last evening and on Tuesday  had a day-long meeting with various organizations to explore the possible steps that can be taken for tribal development. It is expected that he will submit a report to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the next step. Among other issues the Tipra-Motha demand for ‘constitutional Solutions’ of Tribal problems and the demand raised by BJP delegation to convert TTAADC to Tripura Territorial Council (TTC) drew the maximum attention during the course of the day.

After the meeting, Tipra-Motha’s supremo Pradyot Kishore Debbarma said that his party is sticking to its ‘Greater Tipraland' demand and "Centre should fulfil our demand and they should come out clearly with their views about our demand".

"Pakistan tried to impose the Urdu language on the people of East Pakistan and then the language movement started (in 1948) leading to the creation of sovereign Bangladesh. Similarly, tribal language should be respected by all and we need our own script for the language of the indigenous people," he told the media.

Mishra, who is also looking after the various tribal related issues and demands in Nagaland and Manipur, also held a meeting with Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha on Monday night and discussed various aspects.

After meeting the Chief Minister through his social media posts said that “Shri A.K. Mishra Ji, IPS (Retd), Advisor for North East Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India , met me in office at Agartala.

We discussed various issues at length related to overall development of our Janajati Communities. I also requested him to meet Janajati leaders of all Political parties including Janajati Samajpati so as to obtain a direct perception about the socio economic and infrastructural development aspects."

However, the most significant was the delegation led by BJP MLA Rampada Jamatia who demanded to convert the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) to Tripura Territorial Council (TTC) and the 125th amendment of the Constitution of India. They said the change in nomenclature will pave way for direct funding and many other facilities for the tribal body. Apart from BJP leaders like Pramod Reang, Bimal Chakma, Bipin Debbarma, several Samajpaties were also in the delegation. It is learnt that Mishra obtained the opinion of the Samajpatis on various issues. BJP leader Patal Kanya Jamatia also met separately. Sridam Debbarma and Chandan Debbarma of Tripura State Party also met Mishra

The Motha’s 'Greater Tipraland' demand, which is supported by the ruling BJP’s ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), has become a major issue in Tripura politics since 2021.

After the Tipra-Motha wrested the power in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) in April, the party intensified their agitation in support of their demand, which has been strongly opposing by the BJP, CPI(M)  led Left Front, Congress and Trinamool Congress and other parties.

The Motha leaders led by Pradyot during the past several months held a series of meetings with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, both Shah and Sarma, as well as the Tripura Chief Minister, rejected the its 'Greater Tipraland' demand, saying no division of Tripura would be done.

BJP’s ally IPFT has also been demanding to upgrade the TTAADC as a full-fledged state. The CPI(M) did not meet the central representative and said the visit was politically motivated.

The TTAADC, which has a jurisdiction on over two-thirds of Tripura's 10,491 sq km area and is home to over 12,16,000 people, of which around 84 per cent are tribals, is, in terms of its political significance, second most important constitutional body after the Tripura Assembly.

Political pundits said that both the Tipra-Motha and the IPFT, to capitalise the tribal vote bank, raise tribal-centric demands like upgradation of the TTAADC as a separate for the tribals even though they fully aware that such demand would never be fulfilled due to obvious reasons. Both Motha and the IPFT in support of their separate state-like demands organised agitations both in the state and in Delhi.