AGARTALA: A day after a “detailed” meeting with Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha in Agartala, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) met a five-member delegation of Tipraha Indigenous Progressive regional alliance (Tipra) on Tuesday.
“We met the MHA advisor and raised the issue of separate administration for the indigenous people as part of our Greater Tipraland demand,” party chief Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma told the press, post the meeting with AK Mishra, MHA advisor of Northeast affairs.
Reiterating Greater Tipraland as the only and “final solution” for the indigenous population of the state, Debbarma said, “We placed our demands before the MHA advisor. If the Centre has better ideas for the indigenous people, they will come back to us with it in writing. We have not diluted any of our demands.”
The Tipra Motha chief also added that their demand for a Roman script for the Kokborok language is another significant step in that direction.
Drawing parallels with 1971 Bangladesh Freedom War, Debbarma declared that Tipra Motha will never support forceful imposition of a language’s written form on anyone.
“When Pakistan tried to impose Urdu on the people of erstwhile East Pakistan, it triggered massive protests and finally Pakistan split into two leading to creation of Bangladesh,” said the Tipra Chief.
The Tipra Motha has consistently advocated for the adoption of the Roman script for the Kokborok language. The ruling BJP has not issued any official statement on this sensitive matter, while the Left Front expresses a preference for the Bengali script.
Earlier on November 27, advisor Mishra had a detailed meeting about the issue with Chief Minister Saha.
Post the meeting, Chief Minister Saha said that the meeting was a fruitful one and he has apprised advisor Mishra of all the issues there are.
“I apprised him of issues including development initiatives related to roads, connectivity, schools, colleges, and budgetary allocations for other development initiatives for the indigenous population,” a national daily quoted him as saying.
