AGARTALA: BJP ally Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) will hold a demonstration at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on August 23 to reiterate its demand for a separate Tipraland state.
For the past several years, the party has been urging the Centre to create ‘Tipraland,’ a separate state for tribals, by upgrading the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).
In support of this demand, the party has been staging numerous protests in Tripura and the national capital.
The IPFT leaders said that they would submit a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, demanding the upgrade of the TTAADC (Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council) into a separate state as per Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution.
“Like previous years, we will stage demonstration at Jantar Mantar for a full-fledged Tipraland on August 23 to mark Tipraland Statehood Demand Day,” IPFT leaders said.
August 23 has been observed as ADC (Autonomous District Council) formation day since 1984. The IPFT has been observing the day as Tipraland Statehood Demand Day since 2009.
The IPFT was founded in the 1990s with the goal of creating ‘Tipraland’ for indigenous tribals. The party has experienced several splits, with some leaders joining other factions such as the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) led by former royal scion Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma.
The IPFT forged an alliance with the BJP, leading to their coalition’s victory in the March 2018 Assembly elections, ending a 25-year rule by the CPI (M)-led Left Front.
The party’s prime demand of a separate state has not seen much progress yet, though a high-level fact-finding modality committee was formed in 2018 to examine socio-cultural, ethnic, linguistic and economic problems of Tripura’s indigenous communities.
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In 2021, the IPFT along with the TIPRA Motha held a demonstration at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to press the Centre for a separate state for tribals.
Both the IPFT and TMP’s demands are opposed by the ruling BJP, the opposition CPI (M), and Congress.
Currently, the IPFT’s lone MLA, Sukla Charan Noatia, serves as a Cabinet minister in the Chief Minister Manik Saha-led coalition government.
