PM Modi, HM Shah committed to safeguarding Tripura tribals’ constitutional rights: Motha chief

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are keen to ensure the constitutional rights of Tripura’s tribal communities, Tipra Motha Party (TMP) founder and chairman Pradyot Kishore Debbarma said on Monday.

The tribal-based TMP, led by former royal scion Debbarma, has been a junior partner of the ruling BJP since March 2024.

After prolonged negotiations, the TMP, then in the opposition, signed a tripartite agreement with the Centre and the Tripura government on March 2, 2024, in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Subsequently, the party, which has 13 MLAs, joined the BJP-led coalition government on March 7 last year, adding a new dimension to the state’s political dynamics.

Two TMP MLAs—Animesh Debbarma and Brishaketu Debbarma—were inducted into the Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha-led ministry.

Talking to the media, Debbarma said the Prime Minister had given his blessings to the tripartite agreement and expressed confidence that the Union Home Minister would ensure its implementation for the all-round socio-economic development of the tribal population in Tripura.

“What the state BJP leaders are saying about the accord, the tribals or the TMP does not concern us, as the central BJP leadership is committed to implementing the agreement,” the TMP supremo said. Debbarma reiterated that the sole objective of the TMP is the development of the tribal communities and the protection of their constitutional rights.

Ahead of the crucial elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), relations between the BJP and the TMP have remained strained, with several incidents reported in recent months involving clashes, attacks and counter-attacks between workers of the two parties in different parts of the state.

Debbarma also recalled that the TTAADC was constituted in 1982 after the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi amended the Constitution, despite opposition from state Congress leaders at that time.

Meanwhile, since 2021, the TMP has been governing the politically significant 30-member TTAADC, which covers nearly two-thirds of Tripura’s 10,491 sq km geographical area and is home to over 12.16 lakh people, around 84 per cent of whom belong to indigenous communities.

In the run-up to the TTAADC polls, all major political parties, including the ruling BJP, its allies TMP and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), and opposition CPI(M) and Congress, have intensified efforts to consolidate support among tribals, who constitute nearly one-third of Tripura’s total population of about 4.2 million. The TTAADC elections are scheduled to be held in March.