IPFT titan’s death leaves tribal politics up in the air in Tripura

A part of the BJP-led ruling coalition in the state, the IPFT has seen its tribal vote share come under increasing pressure from the fast-rising TIPRA Motha Party, and Debbarma’s demise could leave his party further flailing.

A bureaucrat-turned-politician, who headed the AIR Tripura station for a while, Debbarma served as revenue minister under the current government.

Before the IPFT, he was directly or indirectly involved with a slew of tribal outfits, such as the Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti, Tripura Hill People’s Party and Tripura Tribal National Conference. His hand was seen in almost all the turns tribal politics in the state took, including splits in the above outfits.

Under Debbarma, the first avatar of the IPFT won the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (ADC) elections in 2000, but suffered a split. After a lull of five years, IPFT (2.0) was born in 2009. This party too suffered split, and a faction called the IPFT-Tipraha eventually teamed up with the BJP in 2018, swaying tribal support by backing the demand for ‘Tipraland’ and winning eight seats. The BJP-IPFT alliance’s win in 2018 ended 25 years of continuous Left Front rule in Tripura.

As the Tipraland or separate state demand remained stuck with the IPFT’s hands tied while in government, the TIPRA Motha tweaked it to demand more areas and garnered tribal support. It has been rising from strength to strength since, led by popular royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma. The Motha’s Greater Tipraland, an extension of Tipraland, also includes regions of Tripuri tribal habitations in Assam, Mizoram and other Northeast states, along with parts of Bangladesh.

In 2021, the Motha swept the ADC polls, forcing Debbarma, already suffering from various ailments by then, to let younger faces take charge of the IPFT. But the stint as IPFT head of his young protégé Mevar Kumar Jamatia was brief, with Debbarma getting re-elected as party chief – and holding the post till his death.

In his last days, Debbarma saw a string of IPFT leaders leave, including three MLAs who joined the Motha. Still, his presence meant few wrote off the IPFT, including the BJP. Despite making noises about contesting all the 60 Assembly seats in the elections due in two months, it has said that its alliance will continue.

Sources said the IPFT might further disintegrate now, with few able to fill Debbarma’s shoes in the party.

The BJP too would be worried given the tribal clout in Tripura. While a third of the population of the state once dominated by tribals is now ST (as per the 2011 Census), the ADC covers 70% of the state’s area. Twenty out of 60 seats in the Assembly are reserved for STs.