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In an indication of the continuing tension between the BJP and TIPRA Motha in Tripura, senior BJP leader Jishnu Dev Varma on Friday criticised the Greater Tipraland demand and said that 13 MLAs from the tribal party were hoping to cross over.
In March, soon after the elections, in which the BJP won by a tenuous majority leaving it dependent on the TIPRA Motha to not rock the boat, the Central government had promised an interlocutor to study the problems faced by tribals of the state and to look for a “constitutional solution”. This was after TIPRA Motha leader Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma held talks with Home Minister Amit Shah. But an interlocutor has not visited the state yet.
On Friday, Dev Varma, a former Deputy CM and Pradyot’s uncle, suggested that the Motha’s demands were just a pressure tactic to seek space in the BJP government. He tweeted: “The politics of threat and harassment of Tiprasa for joining BJP is contrary to the concept of Thansa or unity. You cannot take away people’s democratic and political rights by threats and then ask for a solution.”
Questioning the Tipraland demand of the Motha, Dev Varma said: “The (previous) BJP-IPFT (Indigeneous People Front of Tripura) government had passed a Cabinet decision for land rights, territorial council, 42 subjects, and more funding to the TTAADC (Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Councils). Instead of supporting this demand of the state government through a resolution in TTAADC council, the demand for Greater Tipraland was mooted by TTAADC… It was only to ensure that their politics of demand goes on.”
According to Dev Varma, as soon as the Assembly elections got over, the demand for Greater Tipraland “disappeared”. “… it’s now Interlocutor and constitutional solution,” he wrote, adding that Mortha’s 13 MLAs were now trying to cross over to the BJP.
Pradyot refuted the allegations, telling The Indian Express: “The Tiprasa people are more important than any political post or ambition one desires.”
In a Facebook post, Pradyot said: “Over the last 24 hours, I have been asked to respond to the statement made by a BJP leader against me and more importantly against Tipraland. I have never publicly said or will say anything against family members. I would like to keep the dignity and refrain from making comments which are beneath the belt. Reacting to everything is not important. The earlier generation, in my humble opinion, always thought that individual power was important over peoples’ constitutional rights and that’s why we are a minority in our own land today.”
Earlier, Chief Minister Manik Saha issued a statement asking BJP workers not to address Pradyot, who is still well respected as the titular king of Tripura, as Maharaja or King. The Council of Tiprasa Hoda, the apex body of Tripura tribal societies, had demanded a public apology from Saha for this. After former CM Biplab Kumar Deb weighed in, saying this was not the saffron party’s official stand, Saha had reached out to the Motha chief.
