Tipra Motha, the main opposition party in Tripura, on Sunday, claimed that the Greater Tipraland state as demanded by it will secure the future of the indigenous people.
Addressing the party's first plenary session, Tipra Motha supremo Pradyot Kishore Debbarma also sought more funds for the tribal majority area in the northeastern state.
“The demand of achieving Greater Tipraland has been raised as it will secure the interest of Tiprasa (indigenous) people. I was the president of the state Congress and in charge of Sikkim but I decided to step down on the NRC issue,” he said at Khumulwng, 20 km away from the state capital Agartala.
Debbarma’s statement came days after he met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on July 1 and urged him to bring a "Constitutional solution" to its demand for "Greater Tipraland".
He had also discussed with Shah and BJP president JP Nadda on this issue after the swearing-in ceremony of the saffron party-led government here in March.
The concept of ‘Greater Tipraland’ state has not been specified, though it is supposed to include parts of several other northeastern states and Bangladesh, besides Tripura.
Debbarma, who is a descendant of Tripura’s former royal family, formed the Tipra Motha after resigning from the Congress in 2019. The regional party now has 13 MLAs in the 60-member assembly in the BJP-ruled state.
Attacking the state government, Debbarma alleged that the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) area which is two-thirds of the state territory and is the home to the tribals, gets only a meager portion of the state's annual budget.
“Altogether 15 lakh Tiprasa people live in the TTAADC area. Only 2.70 per cent of the fund is sanctioned for 35 per cent of people while 65 per cent of the population gets 98 per cent of the state's budget. It is not Sabka Saath Sabka Vikash, but discrimination,” he alleged.
‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikash’ (With all, development for all) is a slogan of the BJP.
Emphasizing strengthening the organisation, Debbarma asked party leaders to arrange zonal-level plenary sessions by the next month and be prepared to face elections to the Village Committees and the TTAADC.
In the TTAADC election held in April 2021, Tipra Motha bagged 18 of the 28 seats that went to polls and the ruling BJP is in the opposition in the Council.
Asserting that the Tipra Motha is neither with the BJP-led NDA nor the Congress-headed UPA, he urged the party leaders to put pressure on the Centre to achieve Greater Tipraland.
Debbarma said, without elaboration, the party's leaders must take a lead role in eliminating contractor raj or syndicate raj without elaboration.
“We have to check corruption as the funds are sanctioned for the welfare of Tiprasa people”, he said.
Debbarma also urged the party leaders to give him relief as he is tired and wants to have his own family.
“For the past five and a half years, I have been working for the Tiprasa people by spending money from my pocket. Now, I am tired… I want to have a family and I also have an aged mother. Constitute committees and carry forward your movement under the leadership of President BK Hrangkhawl," he said.
I will be with you as long as I am well,” said Debbarma, the chairman of the party.
Tipra Motha's constitution was adopted at the plenary session. Interestingly, the constitution says there should be a 'president' in the party, but it has no provision for having a 'chairman'.