Tripura: IPFT to join NFNS stir, rejects Pradyot Debbarma’s merger offer

Agartala: The Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT), a key ally in the BJP-led ruling alliance in Tripura, on Sunday categorically rejected Tipra Motha founder Pradyot Kishore Debbarma’s proposal for a merger with the newly floated pan-regional political platform and asserted that it has no plan to dissolve its organisation.

The party announced that it will join a protest the National Federation of New States (NFNS) will organise in New Delhi before December 20 to push its long-standing demand for a separate “Tipraland” state.

“We have decided to join the protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi as a member of the national forum of political groups demanding new states,” IPFT general secretary Swapan Debbarma told reporters.

He was speaking after a meeting of the party’s Central Executive Committee.

Minister Shukla Charan Noatia, the party’s lone MLA in the state assembly, and former minister and party president Prem Kumar Reang attended the meeting.

When asked about Pradyot Kishore Debbarma’s public appeal to merge the IPFT with the broader One North East platform, Reang said the recent rally organised in Agartala did not convince the party.

“We have certain reservations about the public meeting that took place a few days ago in Agartala. It was widely portrayed in the media as the formal launch of a pan-regional political party, but people were mostly seen waving Tipra Motha flags. They may have a bigger organisation and more resources, but we prefer to stand by our own core principles,” Reang said.

Reiterating the party’s stand, general secretary Swapan Debbarma said IPFT would not facilitate the rise of a new political entity at the cost of its own survival.

“We don’t want to dissolve our identity or merge it with another party,” he said.

Spelling out the party’s demands, Debbarma said that separate statehood remained the primary ideological objective of IPFT.

“Separate statehood is our ideological demand, and it will definitely remain at the top of our agenda. Along with that, we will press for the immediate implementation of the recommendations of the high-level modality committee, which had suggested the upgradation of the present Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) into a territorial council. We also want the 125th Constitutional Amendment Bill to be tabled and passed in the next session of Parliament,” he said.

Responding to questions on what IPFT had achieved so far as part of the ruling alliance, Debbarma cited earlier initiatives taken during the tenure of former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb.

“When Biplab Kumar Deb was the chief minister, the state assembly adopted a resolution urging Parliament to pass the 125th Constitutional Amendment Bill," he said.

He said the minister, Shukla Charan Noatia, also wrote to the Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, urging him to expedite the process of passing the Bill.

On the forthcoming TTAADC elections and the possibility of a pre-poll understanding, Debbarma said IPFT, as a partner in the ruling coalition, would prefer a joint fight by all three parties—the BJP, IPFT and Tipra Motha.

“As a constituent of the ruling alliance, we hope all three parties – BJP, IPFT and Tipra Motha – contest the TTAADC polls together after working out a reasonable seat-sharing arrangement. However, if that does not materialise, we will explore other alliance options depending on the political situation,” he said.

Debbarma acknowledged IPFT’s limited organisational strength but maintained that the party still holds a crucial position in state politics.

“It is a fact that IPFT alone cannot form the government, but no political party can afford to ignore us. We have enough strength to make our presence felt,” he added.