By Firstdespatch Desk Nov 22, 2023
Agartala, Nov 22 (FD) Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura, an ally of the ruling BJP has announced to organize a public gathering in December—the tribal party’s first major programme since the Assembly elections in February last apparently to regain its organizational base.
The decision of holding the public rally was announced by the, IPFT president and former minister Prem Kumar Reang.
“We have decided to organise a state-level meeting with the participation of our organizational committees in December. We will also hold our party’s executive meeting and discuss different important issues”, Reang told reporters on Monday.
A delegation of the party also met the Governor Indra Sena Reddy Nallu at Raj Bhavan on Tuesday and urged him to take initiative for faster development in the tribal dominated areas in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), which constitutes two third of the state’s geographic territory.
The delegation includes Reang, Minister Shukla Charan Noatia and also discussed 125th Constitutional Amendment.
Submitting a memorandum to the Governor, the IPFT delegation expressed concerns about the population explosion due to illegal infiltration and immigration from neighbouring Bangladesh.
They alleged that a sizeable portion of tribal land was illegally transferred to the immigrants after the princely state merged with the Indian Union in 1949.
They further pointed that there is no enough roads in the tribal council areas, distribution of drinking water is insufficient and opportunities of education is less.
The tribals, who form one third of the state’s estimated forty lakh population is marginalized due to exploitation, oppression, suppression, and deprivation from basic civic amenities for the past 75 years.
The Ministry of Home Affairs formed the Inter-Ministerial High-Level Modality Committee, and the IPFT delegation demanded release of the findings to people of the state.
They also demanded to elevate the status of the tribal council Tipra Territorial Council (TTC) with an increase in seats from 30 to 50 to provide more autonomy to the indigenous people.
The Opposition TIPRA Motha and CPM have not declared any strategy for the parliamentary polls so far but criticised each other over their political strategies against the BJP.
The IPFT was floated by former tribal affairs minister NC Debbarma in 2009 with the demand for Tipraland—a separate state for tribals.
The party contested the 2018 Assembly elections and won eight seats. However, it lost much of its support in the 2023 Assembly polls and could win only one seat in the last February elections. FD JK