‘Greater Tipraland’: With Tripura assembly elections in 2023, a lookback at the demand for the state

Of the 60 assembly constituencies in Tripura, as many as 20 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes. In 2018, eight of these seats were bagged by the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), 10 by the BJP, and two by the CPI(M).

What is the demand for ‘Greater Tipraland’?

According to Pradyot, ‘Greater Tipraland’ will be a separate state carved out of the existing state of Tripura, which is India’s third-smallest in terms of area. The new ethnic homeland will primarily be for indigenous communities of the region which have been reduced to a numerical minority due to the influx of displaced Bengalis from East Bengal during Partition.

Another wave of Bengali migrants took refuge in Tripura during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. According to Language Census 2011, Bengali was the mother tongue of 24.14 lakh people in Tripura. This represents two-thirds of the 36.74 lakh population, and nearly three times the 8.87 lakh who speak Kokborok — a language of the Tibeto-Burman family and the mother tongue of the largest tribal group.

‘Greater Tipraland’, says Pradyot, will help protect the rights and culture of the tribals. He has also promised land reforms for the tribals. He wants his demand to be fulfilled under Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of India, sections which deal with the formation of new states.

But was not this demand behind the armed insurgency that troubled the state for decades?

Armed insurgent groups like the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) which was formed in 1992 and the All Tripura Tribal Force (ATTF), set up in 1990, demanded secession from India rather than a separate state.

After the Tripura National Volunteers (TNV), an active insurgent group in the 1980s, signed a peace accord with the Centre during Rajiv Gandhi’s reign, NLFT and ATTF emerged as splinter groups. They unleashed a reign of terror in the state. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, 2509 civilians, 455 security personnel and 519 insurgents were killed between 1992 and 2012.

Recruits of these outfits were largely disillusioned tribal youth from poverty-stricken hilly areas of Tripura. Till date, these regions continue to lag in socio-economic parameters.

When Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League came to power in Bangladesh in 1996, the state government and the centre started coordinating closely with the neighbouring nation to destroy the cross-border infrastructure of the insurgents.

Is TIPRA Motha the first party to raise the demand for a separate state within Constitutional parameters?

No, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), which was formed in 2000, first raised the demand. Two years later, the IPFT merged with another outfit called Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti (TUJS) to give birth to the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT), led by former separatist leader Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhwal.

IPFT was revived in 2009 under the leadership of NC Debbarma, who later went on to serve as a minister in the BJP-IPFT coalition government till his death on January 1, 2022.

With the influence of IPFT waning, TIPRA Motha, which has had a meteoric rise since winning 18 of 28 seats in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTADC) in 2021, has once again brought the demand to the fore. IPFT is currently in talks with Pradyot for a merger with TIPRA Motha. Since 2021, three IPFT MLAs and one BJP MLA have joined TIPRA Motha.

Has the royal family that Pradyot belongs to has always been politically active?

The princely state of Tripura was ruled by the Manikya dynasty, belonging to the Tripuri or Tiprasa community, from the late 13th century until the signing of the Instrument of Accession with the Indian government on October 15, 1949. At the time, Pradyot’s father Kirit Bikram Manikya held Tripura’s reigns, though he was still a minor.

Later, both Kirit Bikram and his wife Bibhu Kumari Devi were elected as Lok Sabha MPs from the Congress. Pradyot himself has served as the Congress’ working president before resigning in September 2019. His sister Pragya Debbarman also unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls on a Congress ticket.

What are the possible political implications of the demand?

The elections in Tripura are set to be a three-cornered contest this time unless the TIPRA Motha reaches any pre-poll understanding with the BJP or the CPI(M)-Congress alliance.

In 2018, the BJP won 36 seats with a vote share of 43.5 per cent, followed by the CPI(M) which got 16 seats with a 42.2 per cent vote share, while the IPFT bagged eight seats and a vote share of 7.5 per cent.

Cut to 2023, the IPFT stands diminished, the BJP is facing strong headwinds while the CPI(M) and the Congress are in an alliance which was inconceivable in the past. The steady rise of the TIPRA Motha and its rejection of coalition offers so far has all the major political players on tenterhooks.