New party takes charge of Tripura tribal autonomous council

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Agartala, April 19 (IANS) After a landslide victory, the newly formed 'TIPRA Motha', which in the April 6 elections had defeated the ruling BJP-IPFT alliance, took over the governance of the politically important Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday announced that they would boycott the swearing-in-ceremony of the newly elected members and no leaders of the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura was seen at the event held at the TTAADC headquarters in Khumulwng, 20 km north of Agartala.

TIPRA Motha's ally Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura's (INPT) General Secretary Jagadhish Debbarma was elected new Chairman of the TTAADC and Purnachandra Jamatia has been chosen as new Chief Executive Member (CEM).

The CEM and the other Executive Members of the TTAADC would take the oath on Tuesday. The 'TIPRA Motha' chairman and Tripura's royal scion Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman said that following the principle of 'one man, one post' he opted out of the CEM race.

Amalgamating various local tribal-based parties and leaders and members of other parties, the 'TIPRA Motha' (tribal unity) headed by Deb Barman was formed just a few months ago and scripted a new political history by capturing the 30-member TTAADC.

In the April 6 elections to the TTAADC (result of which declared on April 10), of the 28 elective seats (two nominated by the members), the 'TIPRA Motha' won 18 seats, the BJP secured nine seats while one seat went to an Independent candidate.

Two members of different tribal communities were nominated by the governor in the TTAADC on the advice of the state government.

The results of the elections to the TTAADC are a major setback for the BJP-alliance, which wrested power in Tripura in 2018 after defeating the CPI-M led Left parties that ruled the state for 25 years.

However, the BJP for the first time won nine seats in the TTAADC though its junior ally IPFT, despite being a major tribal-based party, drew a blank.

Tripura's oldest tribal-based party INPT, a former ally of the Congress, is also a partner of the 'TIPRA Motha', and its two candidates, secured victory in the polls to the TTAADC, which has a jurisdiction on over two-thirds of Tripura's 10,491 sq km area and is home to over 12,16,000 people, of which 90 per cent are tribals.

The opposition CPI-M, which was governing the TTAADC until May 17 last year, has also suffered a setback in the elections though it has a strong base among the tribals ever since the Left movement started in Tripura in the early 40s.

The IPFT has been agitating since 2009 for the creation of a separate state by upgrading the TTAADC while TIPRA Motha had recently raised the demand for a 'greater Tipra land' (greater areas for the indigenous tribals). Both the demands were, however, strongly opposed by all the political major parties, including the BJP, the CPI-M and the Congress.

The TTAADC was constituted under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution in June 1985 for the socio-economic development of the tribals, who always played a significant role in Tripura politics.

--IANS

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