Royal scion and Chairman of TIPRA Motha Pradyot Kishore Debbarman on Saturday said that his party would like to fight the electoral battle alone in the forthcoming assembly elections if national parties do not agree to give written commitment for the party's core demand "Greater Tipraland".
He also clarified that his party will contest in 35 out of 60 assembly constituencies in the elections. TIPRA is the ruling party of Tripura's only tribal district council.
The royal scion was addressing a mammoth gathering of supporters at Swami Vivekananda Stadium, Agartala. The record turnout of the crowd conveyed the message of his importance in the politically charged Tripura and certainly his party may become a key component of the next government.
"After six long years, a regional party has organized such a gathering in Agartala. Our last fight will be for the constitutional solution for our people. Delhi should hear us, the size of the crowd gathered here will force the government to hear our voice. Greater Tipraland is the only demand that we are fighting for," said Debbarman.
The former Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee president also lamented that some leaders of Tripura's indigenous communities do not understand what the majority of our people want.
"Lucrative offers will be made to break the unity (Thansa in the indigenous language). They will come after you offering posts, power and position. We should not break away. Our demand for Greater Tipraland is constitutional. We can't forget it just for the sake of power and position. The next 10-12 months are very crucial. We have to be careful and stand firm in our stand," said Debbarman.
He also appealed to the Government of India for dialogue on the issue of Greater Tipraland.
"Today the Government of India has opened channels of talks with Hurriyat that has no belief in the Indian constitution. NSCN which is a banned outfit gets invitations for talks and we the Tiprasa people of Tripura who are democratically elected do not get a chance to raise our voice. Give us a chance, we shall apprise you about the problems of our people. For the last 70 years, we have faced nothing but ignorance. And, this is the time to rise," he added.
He also clarified that his fight was not against any particular community and after his party came to power, not a single non-tribal community person living in the ADC areas faced persecution. "On the other hand, people of Agartala fight with each other over politics. In ADC no one is harmed", said Debbarman.
The rally assumes significance considering the present political scenario. There are altogether 60 assembly constituencies in Tripura and 20 among them are reserved for scheduled tribe candidates. Apart from that, there are 15 seats where a sizable number of voters belong to tribal communities.
Among the 20 reserved seats, the ruling BJP now has 11 indigenous MLAs while its junior ally IPFT has eight. The rise of Motha may cause serious electoral blows for the party in power. In the rest of the 15 seats, indigenous votes play the deciding factor. It is to be seen how the political equations play out ahead of the 2023 polls.
( With inputs from ANI )
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