Days after the TIPRA Motha party held a dawn-to-dusk strike in Tripura across all the Autonomous District Council (ADC) areas over the demand of Greater Tipraland, the tribal regional party Thursday announced a mega rally at Khumulwng, the headquarters of the tribal council, on October 14 to press for the separate statehood demand.
The dawn-to-dusk strike was held on September 30.
Speaking to the media at a press conference at the Ujjayanta Palace annexe building, Motha leader Rajeshwar Debbarma said, ‘We will organise this mega rally in a peaceful, non-violent and democratic manner. Our main objective is to put forth our demand for Greater Tipraland before the central government and push for a Constitutional solution of the problems faced by the tribals of the state.’
He said Motha has already ramped up its organisational abilities by announcing a Central Advisory Committee for the party in the state as well as a Central Advisory Committee for its women front — Tripura Indigenous Women’s Federation (TIWF) — to better organise supporters.
Earlier this year, the tribal party announced a Central Working Committee (CWC) where Motha founder and royal scion-turned-politician Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma, who had earlier stepped down from the post of party chairperson, returned as a member of the top policy-making body.
On the issue of the mega rally scheduled at Khumulwng on October 14, Rajeshwar Debbarma appealed ‘people from all sections’ to join the gathering and turn it a success.
Former minister and senior Motha leader Mevar Kumar Jamatia said while the 12-hour ADC strike was ‘successful’, the tribal party intends to continue with the momentum of the statehood movement.
‘We are expecting a gathering of at least 20-30 thousand people at Khumulwng on the day. We appeal to people from all sections to join us in the movement for Greater Tipraland,’ Jamatia said.
The press conference came amidst an announcement of TIPRA Motha constituent Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra’s (INPT) state conference in November to restructure the regional party’s central leadership.
TIPRA Motha was formed in 2021 under Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma after the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) Tipraha (a breakaway faction of the state’s ruling alliance partner IPFT), Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT), Nationalist Congress of Tripura, Tipraland State Party (TSP), Tripura People’s Front and a host of other regional tribal parties and organisations merged together to press for ‘Greater Tipraland’, only to find Tripura People’s Front and IPFT leave Motha soon afterwards.
While the TSP broke away recently and blamed Motha for not delivering on its promised Greater Tipraland agenda, INPT leaders Shib Chandra Debbarma and others Thursday said they would reorganise the party but continue to be in alliance with TIPRA Motha.
The leaders of the INPT claimed that the party’s founder Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl relinquished leadership in the party and has now become the president of TIPRA Motha while Jagadish Debbarma, who earlier served as the general secretary of the INPT, had handed over charge or the post to Shib Chandra Debbarma, a leader of the INPT.
Stating that the tribal party would have its ‘own charter of demands’, the INPT said it would support the sole demand of Greater Tipraland of the TIPRA Motha party as an alliance partner of Motha.
‘Our state conference was last held in 2017. We usually hold it every three years. But we have decided to hold it in November this year. We shall continue our alliance with the TIPRA Motha party on the basis of which the last general elections to Tripura ADC was held in 2021,’ S C Debbarma said.
Though the INPT had allied and the rest of the tribal parties fused together to emerge as TIPRA Motha in 2021, the former had practically become one with Motha in the last two years.
No reaction on the re-emergence of the INPT was available from TIPRA Motha leaders.
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