BJP ally IPFT responds to TIPRA Motha: ready for talks on ‘broad range of issues’

If IPFT joins the Motha, the ruling party in Tripura's tribal area councils, it will become the one-stop destination for all tribal politics in the state, and a kingmaker no party can ignore

TIPRA Motha chief Pradyot Manikya Debbarma (Twitter/@PradyotManikya)

5 min readAgartalaJan 18, 2023 09:32 PM IST First published on: Jan 18, 2023 at 08:31 PM IST

In a move that is raising eyebrows, Tripura’s ruling alliance partner, the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT), on Wednesday, responded to the TIPRA Motha’s proposal of merger and said it is ready to start talks on “a broad range of issues”. Motha is the party in power in Tripura’s Tribal Areas Autonomous District Councils (ADCs).

In a letter to TIPRA Motha supremo Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma today, minister and IPFT working president Prem Kumar Reang, who is also the acting president since IPFT’s founder N C Debbarma passed away at the age of 84 earlier this month, wrote, “I am writing this letter to express my sincere gratitude for the proposal to unite IPFT and TIPRA in any form, for solving the question of survivability and existence of the Tiprasas, with an endeavour of achieving our demand for Tipraland and Greater Tipraland state.”

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He also said the IPFT welcomes the opportunity to meet Pradyot and discuss a “broad range of issues of common interest” to both outfits, and asked the latter to fix the date, time and venue for the talks.

Reang’s letter comes in response to a letter from Pradyot on January 13, in which he formally floated a unity proposal for the two parties, for the “unity of Tiprasas, for survival and existence”, and said they should unite since their demands are not very different.

“Our demand is not different but it’s the same, which seeks a permanent constitutional solution for the indigenous people of the state. And we cannot have a consideration of any other issues sacrificing the Tiprasas’ existence. Let the Tiprasas’ survive and exist first under the protection of Tipraland’ State or ‘Greater Tipraland’ State,” his letter read.

In his letter, Pradyot had also cautioned the IPFT leadership, saying the future of the IPFT or the Motha wasn’t more important than the future of a ‘Tiprasa’ of Tripuri tribals, and had said, “Let us not be drawn to posts, positions or money, as shall be allured by different political parties around us. Let us not get deviated from our demand, as our prime goal is to preserve and protect the future of the Tiprasas from extinction. We cannot afford to waste time and fall into the den of extinction.”

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After receiving Prem Kumar’s letter today, Pradyot took to social media and wrote, “I have received a letter from the IPFT. We will meet soon. I’ll put the interest of the people above individuals. The people want thansa and I will not think about my interest over [that of] our people!”

The two tribal parties coming together is considered electorally significant, as the IPFT, which shot to power in 2018 with its Tipraland demand, has grown weaker now, partly due to the demise of its founder-president N C Debbarma, as well as the departure of three MLAs during the last few months.

Earlier, Pradyot’s Motha merged with several other tribal parties, including the National Conference of Tripura (NCT), the breakaway IPFT-Tipraha, the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT), which is one of the oldest tribal parties in Tripura, and the Tipraland State Party, among others.

The IPFT’s interest in merging with Motha would essentially make the party a one-stop destination for tribal politics in the future. In a state like Tripura, where 20 out of 60 Assembly seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST), Motha is eyeing to become a force to reckon with. If the merger comes through, experts feel any party that wins the 2023 polls would have to look at the new party to form government.

Later on Wednesday, BJP state president Rajib Bhattacharjee reacted to IPFT’s letter and said the saffron party had also received an invite from IPFT and was going to meet it soon.

“I have also received a letter from IPFT chief Prem Kumar Reang. We are going to meet soon. All of our leaders, including myself, were in Delhi for last few days to attend the national executive meeting. IPFT is our ally and Prem Kumarji is a nice person. The party’s founder president N C Debbarma passed away recently and we expressed condolence for him at our national executive meeting. We believe in alliance, we fought the ADC polls together. We shall talk,” he said.

On IPFT’s move to talk with TIPRA Motha, he said the BJP doesn’t have any objection to the tribal parties talking among themselves. Asked if BJP would be holding alliance talks with the Motha, Bhattacharjee said his party didn’t hold any such talks yet but didn’t rule out the possibility, adding, “Let’s see what happens.”