As Pradyot gets CM Sangma to join TIPRA show of strength, buzz over a new Northeast front grows

In an audio message, Pradyot appealed to everyone cutting across party lines to join the rally. “For the first time, a Chief Minister of a state will attend the rally of a Tripura regional party with his cabinet ministers to show solidarity with us,” he said.

CM Sangma’s joining the rally would be a remarkable development, given that he is a key ally of the BJP-led NDA in the Northeast region.The NPP also has presence in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur. Sangma has said that his party would aim to expand beyond Northeast and would foray into states with high tribal population, such as Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

A former Congress leader, Pradyot floated the tribal TIPRA Motha outfit in 2021 with the call for a Greater Tipraland state. While the demand underwent several changes and eventually evolved into the call for an autonomous state, the party swept the ADC polls held just two months after its formation.

In the elections to the 60-member state Assembly in February this year, the incumbent BJP clinched a simple majority by winning 32 seats while its ally IPFT won 1 seat.

Making its debut in this election, the Motha bagged 13 seats to emerge as the second largest party, while the CPI(M) and the Congress, which had fought the polls in an alliance, could manage to get 11 and 3 seats respectively.

However, the Motha could not prove to be the deciding factor in the government-formation as Pradyot had hoped for, forcing it to do a tightrope between the ruling BJP as well as the Opposition Congress and the CPI(M)-led Left.

Subsequently, the Motha engaged in talks with the BJP-led central government over its Greater Tipraland demand. It held a series of meetings with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Northeast Advisor to Ministry of Home Affairs A K Mishra, and Assam CM and North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) chairperson Himanta Biswa Sarma.

On the other hand, the Motha also entered into a poll understanding with the Congress and the CPI(M) in the Assembly by-elections held in two seats in August this year. It did not field candidates, making way for one-on-one fight between the CPI(M) and the BJP in these bypolls won by the latter.

Recently, Pradyot was reportedly approached by the Congress leadership, which asked him to return to the grand old party in a key role. While Motha has officially not commented on the Congress’s “overtures”, sources close to Pradyot said he did not rule out such a possibility.

Pradyot’s family has had a long-running Congress connection. His mother “Rajmata” Bibhu Kumari Devi had been a Congress MP and a minister in the state’s Congress-Tripura Upajat Juba Samiti (TUJS) coalition government during 1988-93. His father Kirit Bikram Kishore Manikya Debbarma was also a Congress MP.

The Motha’s October 14 rally is coming days after it held a dawn-to-dusk strike on September 30 across the TTAADC belt over the Greater Tipraland demand. On October 5, Motha leader Rajeshwar Debbarma appealed to “people from all sections” to join the rally, saying while the strike was “successful”, the tribal party was looking to continue the momentum of the statehood movement.

The Motha has also charged that the TTAADC has remained cash-strapped. Since the Motha came to power in the tribal district council two years ago, Pradyot has repeatedly accused the BJP-led state government of not providing adequate funds for its proper functioning.

As regards CM Sangma’s participation in the Motha rally, sources said Pradyot has had warm relations with the Sangma family. A source said both Pradyot and Conrad are young politicians keen to champion the regional interest, which might not sit too well with national parties like the BJP and the Congress.

Conrad is known for his ties with some prominent regional leaders like Telangana CM and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) supremo K Chandrashekar Rao or KCR and his son and minister K T Rama Rao or KTR.

Some tribal parties of Northeast are said to be upset that the BJP-led NEDA has not convened any meeting since the ethnic clashes broke out in the BJP-ruled Manipur in May and are now “looking for another regional political platform”.

Conrad’s move to join the Motha rally being held over the Greater Tipraland agenda, which has been rejected by several BJP leaders, seems to be curious. The Indian Express tried to reach NPP spokesperson James Sangma for comments, but he was unavailable.

Apart from the NPP top brass, Pradyot has relations with the leaders of several Northeastern parties in states like Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. In this backdrop, his October 14 rally would take place amid growing speculations about the proposed larger regional front, which might mark a “paradigm shift” in Northeast politics.

After founding the Motha, Pradyot has been reaching out to the Centre over its various demands and redressal of tribals’ grievances. However, he has not been able to extract any notable concessions so far.

The BJP’s ally IPFT (Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura) lost a significant chunk of its tribal support base to the Motha because the party failed to deliver on its promise of securing

Tipraland, a proposed separate state for tribals.

Pradyot wants to avoid the IPFT’s fate. With about six months to go for the Lok Sabha polls, he is keen to set a fresh narrative for his supporters amid the Motha’s ongoing talks with the Centre. A possible move to set up a larger regional grouping might be a part of his new agenda.