Members of the Tipra Motha Party (TMP), Tripura’s main Opposition party, are scheduled to block National Highway 8 — the State’s lifeline — on Wednesday to protest the Centre’s delay in providing constitutional solutions to the issues of the indigenous communities.
The blockade is likely to coincide with an indefinite hunger strike to be launched by TMP chairman Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma at Tripura West district’s Hatai Kotor, formerly Baramura.
Mr. Debbarma, who returned to the State’s capital Agartala on Monday night after a meeting with Home Ministry officials in Delhi, said the TMP and Tripura’s indigenous people want a written and not verbal assurance from the Centre for fulfilling their demands.
“What we seek is according to the Indian Constitution. We want the Centre to fulfil its assurance on the tribal people’s constitutional and land rights,” he said, urging all political parties to join the agitation in the interest of the indigenous communities.
He said 95% of Tripura’s indigenous people belonging to 19 recognised tribes are landless.
On Monday night, Mr. Debbarma held a meeting with Tribal Welfare Minister Sukla Charan Noatia to discuss the TMP’s demands and agitation. The latter is a leader of the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura, an ally of the ruling BJP.
Former extremist and TMP president Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl accused the Centre of deliberately delaying any decision on the ‘Greater Tipraland’ demand and fulfilling the constitutional rights of the tribal people.
Greater Tipraland, a blueprint for a separate State for tribal people, has been opposed by the BJP as well as the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front, Congress, and other political parties. The Statehood demand gained currency after the TMP formed the government in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) in April 2021.
The TTAADC covers more than two-thirds of Tripura’s 10,491 sq. km. area and is home to more than 12,16,000 people, of whom around 84% are tribals. Greater Tipraland covers areas beyond the TTAADC map.
In its maiden electoral battle in 2023, the TMP bagged 13 seats in Tripura’s 60-member Assembly. It is the largest party in the State after the BJP.
