‘Unconstitutional, provocative’: Tripura Oppn parties react to tribal rights body’s rally call on Christmas

In a rally taken out by the Gana Mukti Parishad, a frontal tribal organisation of the CPI(M), on Tuesday, the party condemned the demand to delist tribals from the ST status for converting to Christianity. It said the move is backed by the JSM which is in turn backed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and added that any decision to delist tribals for religious conversion would be a suicidal step.

“The demand is illogical, unconstitutional and unjustified. It will cast a devastating effect among tribals if their tribal identity is de-recognised for converting to Christianity. The tribal population will be reduced if Christians are denied tribal status and proportionately, their reservation benefits will also be denied in legislative representations, jobs, education etc. We vehemently oppose it,” former minister and Gana Mukti Parishad leader Naresh Jamatia said.

Jamatia added that many tribals were evicted from their homes in Tripura, their lands were illegally transferred and claimed land alienation and eviction are among the major problems faced by tribals in the country.

The former minister said the most successful Constitutional safeguard for tribal interests is the tribal regional autonomy under the 6th Schedule of the Constitution. He cited Gorkhas from Darjeeling, tribals from Ladakh and other states and said tribals across the country are raising demands for tribal land protection under Constitutional safeguard like the NE region.

He also said Gana Mukti Parishad fought outlawed insurgent outfits like the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) which banned religious festivals like Durga Puja and Laxmi Puja in Tripura’s tribal areas in the 1990s.

The CPI(M) tribal leader also said communal polarisation led to severe hostilities in neighbouring Manipur earlier this year and said the effort to divide tribals on religious lines was suggestive of some sort of ploy.

Former minister and Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Sudip Roy Barman said the demand has been floated to disturb the peace and foment ethnic discord and tension in the state, risking mutual co-existence in the lines of the incidents during the Manipur violence.

“We know who is behind this and who is providing support to this demand. We are observing that they are demanding to snatch away ST status of tribal Christians living in the state. The demand itself is unconstitutional, provocative and illegal. This comes from the politics of division and polarisation. Tribals, who mostly live in villages and hilly terrains, are far away from talks of development and they suffer from problems of education, healthcare, safe drinking water and electricity. Now, JSM is trying to raise slogans with a new unconstitutional demand. Different political parties are reacting to it. The ruling BJP and the state government run by the saffron party are silent on this. We want to know what their reaction on this is,” he said.

Barman said if the state government has permitted the JSM rally, the same must be cancelled immediately.

“We don’t want tension in the tribal areas or degeneration of law and order. Let us all work on real development of tribals,” the Congress leader said.

Barman also demanded the state government to pass the 125th amendment in the Assembly which is pending with the Parliament, facilitating direct funding from the central government to the Tripura ADC and to introduce Article 371 to grant special status to protect the rights of tribals.

TIPRA Motha had earlier criticised the efforts to divide the people on communal lines. In an audio message to his supporters on social media, party chief Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma said he senses a controversy of using religion to divide Tiprasa or the tribals of the state.

In an oblique reference to the ruling BJP, Debbarma, who has been vocal against the saffron party and the Left parties during the Assembly poll campaign, had questioned some tribals’ purported engagement in the alleged conspiracy to create a divide on religious lines and had said, “Will Hindu Tiprasa get their rights by denying Christians? Or vice versa? Never. This whole conspiracy is not for Hindus, nor Christians or Buddhists. It is for getting our attention, dividing us and breaking our thansa (unity).”

Tripura Peoples Congress, a local political party of the state, Monday said JSM’s demand is a “design and conspiracy” hatched by fundamentalist Hindutva forces.

The Tripura Peoples Party’s state secretary said, “This will incite communal division and may foment aggressive politics. This could lead to curtailing tribal autonomy and land rights and make way for private players to take advantage of their resources. The demand for delisting tribals from ST status for religious conversion is unconstitutional and provocative.”

No reaction was available from the ruling BJP on the subject till the time of filing this report.

Nearly 30 per cent of Tripura’s 37 lakh population (2011 census) lives within the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC). Formed in 1982, the Tripura ADC is non-contiguously spread across all eight districts of the state and encompasses nearly 70 percent of the state’s geographical area, housing one third of the state’s population, from 19 tribal communities.