According to Tipra Motha Chief, the Greater Tipraland State would ensure the future of indigenous people

The biggest opposition party in Tripura, Tipra Motha, said on Sunday that the Greater Tipraland state that it is calling for would guarantee the future of the native population.

Tipra Motha leader Pradyot Kishore Debbarma addressed the inaugural plenary meeting of the party and also called for more funding for the northeastern state’s tribal majority region.

Greater Tipraland is desired because it would protect the interests of the Tiprasa (indigenous) people. I was in charge of Sikkim and the state Congress as president, but I resigned over the NRC problem, he said at Khumulwng, 20 kilometers from Agartala, the capital of the state.

 

Debbarma made his comments a few days after he met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on July 1 and asked him to find a “Constitutional solution” to its demand for “Greater Tipraland”.

 

Following the saffron party-led government’s swearing-in ceremony here in March, he held this discussion with Shah and BJP President JP Nadda as well.

 

Although the definition of the ‘Greater Tipraland’ state has not been established, it is expected to encompass portions of many other northeastern states, as well as Bangladesh, in addition to Tripura.

 

After leaving the Congress in 2019, Debbarma, a member of Tripura’s erstwhile royal dynasty, founded the Tipra Motha. The local party currently has 13 MLAs in the state’s 60-member legislature, which is governed by the BJP.

 

Debbarma, who was criticizing the state administration, said that the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), which makes up two-thirds of the state’s territory and is home to the tribal people, receives a pitiful amount of the state’s yearly budget.

 

The TTAADC region is home to 15 lakh Tiprasa people in total. Only 2.70 percent of the money is authorized for 35% of the population, yet 98 percent of the state budget goes to 65% of the population. Discrimination, not Sabka Saath Sabka Vikash, he said.

 

The BJP uses the phrase “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikash” (With all, development for all).

 

Debbarma requested party leaders to set up zonal-level plenary meetings by the end of the month in order to improve the organization and to prepare for elections to the Village Committees and the TTAADC.

 

Tipra Motha won 18 of the 28 seats up for election in the TTAADC in April 2021, and the governing BJP is now in opposition in the Council.

 

He encouraged the party leaders to apply pressure to the Centre in order to attain Greater Tipraland, asserting that the Tipra Motha is neither with the BJP-led NDA or the Congress-headed UPA.

 

Without going into more detail, Debbarma said that the party’s leaders must take the initiative to end contractor raj or syndicate raj.

 

Since the money is authorized for the Tiprasa people’s wellbeing, he said, “We have to check corruption.”

 

Debbarma also pleaded with the party officials to release him since he is worn out and longs for his own family.

 

“I have been working for the Tiprasa people for the last five and a half years using money out of my own pocket. Now, I’m worn out. I have an aging mother and I want to have a family. Create committees and advance your movement under President BK Hrangkhawl’s guidance, he said.

 

As long as I’m feeling good, I’ll be with you, the party chairman Debbarma said.

 

At the plenary meeting, the constitution of Tipra Motha was approved. It’s interesting that the constitution calls for the party to have a “president,” yet it makes no mention of a “chairman.”