Tripura’s titular king emerges as key player in Assembly poll

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, January 22

Pradyot Deb Barma, titular king of Tripura, has emerged as a key player in the Assembly elections slated to take place in the state next month.

Barma’s demand for a “Greater Tipraland” has struck a chord with the state’s strong tribal population forcing another regional tribal outfit — Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) — to consider severing old ties with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and merge the party with Barma-led Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA).

Correspondence and meetings between the two sides are going on to discuss the merger issue. The latest meeting took place on Saturday.

The 44-year-old titular king this morning posted a photograph of the meeting on Twitter with the remark: “Met the IPFT leadership yesterday and asked them to consider becoming one party! Time is short and I hope they do the right thing.”

While speculation is rife that Barma is in touch with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and negotiating a tie-up with the BJP, Barma today said in a video posted on Facebook that he would not form an alliance with anyone unless he is given a written assurance about “Greater Tipraland”.

‘Greater Tipraland’ is essentially an extension of IPFT’s demand for ‘Tipraland’, a separate state for tribals by carving out the TTAADC (Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council) area. The ‘Greater Tipraland’ idea is not restricted only to Tripura and seeks to also include Tripuris living in Assam, Mizoram, and Chittagong hill tracts of Bangladesh.

The TIPRA came into being after the anti-CAA agitation in 2020. Riding on the wave of the “Greater Tipraland” demand, it defeated BJP, IPFT and other parties in the elections of TTAADC in March 2021. Twenty seats of Tripura’s 60-member House are in TTAADC-administered areas.

CPM, the largest Opposition party in the state, has joined hands with the Congress to challenge the BJP in the poll. CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury has appealed to Deb Barma to also join the alliance.

Demand for ‘Greater Tipraland’

Tripura’s titular king Pradyot Deb Barma’s demand for a “Greater Tipraland” has struck a chord with the state’s strong tribal population forcing another regional tribal outfit — Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura — to consider severing old ties with the ruling BJP and merging the party with Barma-led Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance.