Ahead of the assembly elections in Tripura, the ruling BJP has made it clear that the demand for a separate state for tribals in the state is not acceptable. After chief minister Manik Saha said that the demand to form Greater Tipraland by splitting the state of Tripura will not be possible, Assam CM and BJP’s chief trouble-shooter in North East Himanta Biswa Sarma echoed the same opinion.
Talking to India Today’s Rajdeep Sardesai in Guwahati, Sarma said that accepting the demand will open a pandora’s box, as it will trigger a series of similar demands in other states in the region. Referring to the demand for a separate state raised by Tipra Motha party, he said that this demand can’t be accepted. Himanta Biswa Sarma said whether BJP wins of loses the elections, if Motha sticks to the demand, BJP will not form any alliance with the party led by Pradyot Manikya Debbarman, the scion of Tripura’s royal family.
“For power, we can’t create a pandora’s box in the northeast”, the Assam CM said alleging that Motha is demanding a separate state only to grab power. “If you do something in Tripura, that will trigger similar kind of demands in other states”, he added.
He said that BJP has told Tipra Motha that they are ready to discuss on anything, except the demand for the Greater Tipraland state. If Motha continues with the demand even after the elections, then BJP will not have any kind of relationship with the party, he said.
Himanta Biswa Sarma said that one can’t create a mess out of hard-earned peace in the region, as many such similar demands in the northeastern states have been eliminated with the initiative of the Modi government. He said that peace and development have come to the states after much difficulty after 2014, and all of them will go away if the separate state demand is accepted.
He said tribal organisations can demand more autonomy and greater financial authority, but they should not ask for a division of a state. ‘We don’t open a pandora’s box, whether we are in power or not’, he said.
The Assam CM said that there are lots of fault lines in the northeast, there are fault lines with the rest of the country, among the states, and within the states. It was a fragile co-existence, but lots of disputes have been resolved after 2014, and several fragilities and disturbances have been eliminated. Therefore, if any demand for a separate state is accepted in the northeast, it will create tremendous problems, and hard-earned peace, tranquillity and development will be lost, he further said.
Himanta Biswa Sarma expressed confidence that BJP and NDA will return to power after the upcoming elections in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya. He said that BJP is certain to join alliance governments in Meghalaya and Nagaland, and it will return to power in Tripura too.
Yesterday Tripura CM Manik Saha also said that the demand of Greater Tipraland by the Tipra Motha will not be possible. He said that Tipra Motha is trying to create division between tribals and non-tribals in the state.
Manik Saha also said that the Greater Tipraland state is not feasible, as its proposed boundary not only goes through Assam and Mizoram but also goes through Bangladesh. “Will they accept the proposal of Greater Tipraland? It is not possible,” Saha said.
Other parties contesting the elections, Congress, CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress have also not agreed to the Greater Tipraland demand by Tipra Motha. It is notable that Congress and CPI(M) have formed an alliance for the elections in Tripura.
Yesterday, Himanta Biswa Sarma commented that Pradyot Manikya Debbarman’s family had founded Tripura, and now he wants to divide the state.
Tipra Motha has fielded candidates in 42 of the 60 seats for the February 16 election. BJP has nominated 55 candidates, while its ally has fielded IPFT has named 6 candidates. Congress is contesting in 13 seats and CPI(M) in 43 seats. TMC has fielded candidates in 28 constituencies.
The Greater Tipraland demand
The demand for a separate state for tribals in Tripura has again come up in the state ahead of the elections, as Tipra Motha has made it one of their primary demands, and included it in their election promises. The party wants to carve out tribal-dominated areas in Tripura to form the new state. Tribals in the state keep demanding a new state for them from time to time, as the indigenous communities in the state have become minorities due to the influx of Bengalis from East Pakistan during the partition.
While indigenous people were the majority in Tripura before the independence, the situation changed drastically after the independence and partition, as Hindus displaced from East Pakistan moved into neighbouring Tripura in large numbers. A second wave of Bengali migrants entered the state during the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971, further reducing the share of tribals in the state’s population.
The result is, now Bengali is the language spoken by the majority of the population in the state. Around two-thirds of the population list Bengali as their mother tongue, while less than 25% of people speak Kokborok or Tiprakok, the mother tongue of the largest tribal group. Kokborok is a Sino-Tibetan language and an official language of the state.
