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Sangma shares stage with Pradyot, extends support for ‘Greater Tipraland’ demand
Sangma, who arrived at Agartala to attend the mega mass gathering organised by the TIPRA Motha, vouched for a greater regional alliance among the tribal parties and said that he came to extend his support for the tribal statehood demand as a first step to show unity and solidarity in Northeast India
In its continuous demand for Greater Tipraland from the Centre, Tripura’s TIPRA Motha on Saturday convened a mass gathering at the headquarters of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) in Khumulwung, nearly 20 kilometres from Agartala with Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma’s presence as chief guest.
Sangma, who arrived at Agartala to attend the mega mass gathering organised by the TIPRA Motha, vouched for a greater regional alliance among the tribal parties and said that he came to extend his support for the tribal statehood demand as a first step to show unity and solidarity in Northeast India.
Addressing a gathering, he said, “I am glad to be in Tripura to show solidarity with @PradyotManikya and the Tiprasa community and as indigenous leaders we will give our support to ensure their demands are taken up in the Parliament. I thank the people for welcoming me with so much love. As indigenous people of this great nation, let us continue to stand for each other.”
He said that different indigenous leaders of the northeast had raised their voices in the past, including BK Hrangkhawl (TIPRA Motha party president), Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga, Meghalaya’s PA Sangma and other leaders from Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal, to attain a common target.
“The North East is a special part of India with the presence of the indigenous people. Through the years, our indigenous leaders though in different political paths, have voiced the concerns of the North East communities. The baton now has been passed to us and therefore, a call for indigenous unity is the need of the hour for the future of our coming generations,” Sangma said.
He said that they would not just sit and watch their motherland destroyed. They would not remain silent if their tradition, culture, land, youth, women and future generations were threatened.
“If anything happens against our indigenous community, we shall not remain silent,” Sangma said.
TIPRA Motha’s founder and leader Pradyot Kishore Debbarma said that the Meghalaya and his TIPRA Motha had contested polls without forming any alliance.
“During elections, every political party forms an alliance. But Conrad Sangma in Meghalaya had contested alone and won. TIPRA Motha also contested alone,” said Debbarma.
He said that the TIPRA Motha would always raise their voice for the rights of the Tiprasa people without any compromise.
This fight is not to make someone minister or MLA, this fight is for the rights of 1.5 million Tiprasa people, he said adding, “It’s a fight for our right, fight for Greater Tipraland. It will continue till we get it.”
“We want rights before getting power. We are not against any community. We are for all communities. We believe in democracy,” he said.
Debbarma further slammed a section of leaders who left the TIPRA Motha to revive their old party Tipraland State Party (TSP). The royal scion said that those who left Motha were the leaders who didn’t get the ticket during the last Assembly polls.
The TSP, an indigenous-based regional political party, had earlier merged with a few other indigenous parties to form the TIPRA Motha. It separated from TIPRA Motha in September.
Debbarma on several occasions has met with Union home minister Amit Shah and other leaders in Delhi over his demand for a Greater Tipraland for the indigenous community of the northeastern state.
Debbarma said that the demand for a separate state for the indigenous people is a “genuine sentiment and above politics”.
The Indigenous Peoples Regional Alliance (TIPRA) or TIPRA Motha made its entry into the political arena in TTAADC polls in 2021 few months after the formation of the party. Later, they contested the Assembly polls this year to emerge as the main opposition party with 13 legislators.
It was founded by royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, keeping the agenda of creating ‘Greater Tipraland’, a separate state for the indigenous community living in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council and other northeastern states including Assam, Mizoram etc.
In the past four years, different indigenous parties and social organizations, including the National Conference of Tripura (NCT), Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT), Tipraland State Party (TSP), Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura -Tipraha (IPFT-T), a breakaway faction of ruling BJP’s alliance partner IPFT, merged to form TIPRA Motha.
