Journalism of Courage
Tripura regional party TIPRA Motha’s chief Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma on Tuesday said that while his outfit would not compromise on its core demand of Greater Tipraland, the party wants to stop “wrong elements” and would not put up candidates where it cannot win.
Debbarma’s comments are crucial as they come amid reported talks of an alliance with the Congress and the CPI(M). Both the major parties have expressed an interest in allying with TIPRA Motha despite repeated denials from the latter, which has said there won’t be any tie-up without a written agreement on its statehood demand.
“We have plans for 40-45 seats (out of 60 in the Assembly). We also want to ensure the non-splitting of votes. We are here to win but we also don’t want to put up a candidate where we cannot win and will divide votes instead. We want to ensure wrong elements are stopped … people who are against the grain of Tripura,” Debbarma said at a press conference in Agartala on Tuesday.
The comment on stopping forces against the “grain of Tripura” came days after Debbarma said the state would not stand “jumlabazi” anymore.
He said TIPRA Motha aims to become a significant regional party on the lines of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which has been in power in West Bengal for over a decade, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha, the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, and regional outfits such as the National People’s Party (NPP) and the Mizo National Front (MNF) in the North East.
“In Tripura, we are highly political, we understand our politics. The politics of Tiprasa and non-Tiprasa; and Hindus, Muslims, and Christians have made us poor. None of us are rich. Some are poor, some poorer. National parties have done nothing for us. I have tried to break the old mindset and create a new identity in Tripura, where people can feel proud to do something without help from anyone,” said the TIPRA Motha chief.
Debbarma said some parties speak with organisations that took up arms against India but cannot start a dialogue with Motha, which stands for a constitutional solution. Without naming any party, he emphasised, “I am not here like other parties to cut votes. I want to win where we can put up candidates. Where we can’t, we won’t put up candidates.”
He pointed out that political parties had changed their allegiance, citing how the TMC allied with the BJP and formed government at the Centre and how the CPI allied with the BJP during the Emergency. “People shouldn’t forget they changed their positions. My position is related to Tripura, not Nagpur, Delhi or Kerala,” he said.
Asked how his party would go ahead with the Greater Tipraland demand that seeks to include Tiprasas (Tripuri tribals) living in Tripura, Mizoram, Assam, and parts of Bangladesh without a written agreement from any party that wants to ally with it, Debbarma said, “God gave me money, palace, but didn’t give me a name. I want to have a good name by not compromising and selling people for money. So, I have appealed to the IPFT (Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura) leadership to merge under any form and contest together since our demands are 99.99 per cent similar. CPI(M) and Congress supporters who face assault across the state should also come and join us since Motha is the only party whose supporters cannot be touched by any attackers.”
On Tuesday, more than 2,000 people from 145 families of BJP and CPI(M) supporters joined TIPRA Motha, late Tripura minister and veteran Communist Anil Sarkar’s son Abhijit Sarkar.
Debbarma used to be the state Congress president till he quit the party in 2019 due to differences over the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and floated TIPRA Motha in 2021.
