SUJIT CHAKRABORTY
The tribal based Tipra Motha Party (TMP), which has been demanding elevation of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) into a full-fledged state, said if it comes to power in the February 16 assembly polls, within 150 days it would adopt a resolution in the assembly against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The ruling BJP’s ally, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), the opposition Congress and the CPI-M are also strongly against the CAA.
The IPFT, in a low profile manner in the ongoing election campaign is against the CAA but the Congress and the CPI-M are not making it an election issue.
“We are not making the CAA an election issue even though we are strongly against the CAA. In the event of a changed post poll scenario, if the TMP or any party moves a resolution in the assembly we would consider it,” CPI-M Tripura state secretary and senior tribal leader Jitendra Chowdhury told IANS.
Congress’ Tripura state president and former minister Birajit Sinha demanding scrapping of the CAA, said that the party is not making it an issue in the ongoing election.
TMP chief and former royal scion Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman recently released its 15-point promises — Mission 15 for 150 days — for the February 16 Assembly elections.
He announced that if his party comes to power within 150 days it would adopt a resolution in the assembly against the CAA.
“Tipra Motha is not against any religion, caste or creed or community. All people irrespective of caste and religion have the right to live in harmony. In a country there cannot be two laws, similarly, one country cannot have a law which bars Muslims, Hindus, Christian, Sikhs, tribals and non-tribals,” Deb Barman told IANS.
He said that the TMP wants constitutional protection and all round socio-economic development of the tribals and the indigenous people.
“If we do not take appropriate legal and constitutional measures to protect the tribals, their traditional life, culture, economic position would be jeopardized further.”
The TMP or Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance’s (TIPRA) since 2021, has been demanding elevation of the TTAADC areas by granting of ‘Greater Tipraland State’ or a separate state under Article 2 and 3 of the Constitution.
The ruling BJP, CPI-M led Left parties, Congress and the Trinamool Congress have been strongly opposing the demand of the TIPRA. The party in support of the demand organised agitations both in the state and in the national capital Delhi.
After thrashing the BJP, CPI-M and the Congress in the crucial polls, since April 2021, TMP or TIPRA has been ruling the politically-important 30-member TTAADC, which has jurisdiction over two-third of Tripura’s 10,491 sq km area and is home to over 12,16,000 people, of which around 84 per cent are tribals, making the autonomous council a mini-Assembly.
The TTAADC was formed in 1985 under Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to protect and safeguard the political, economic and cultural interests of the tribals, who consist of one third of the state’s four million population.
The tribal based parties including the TMP and the IPFT have been demanding promulgation of the Inner Line Permit to protect the tribals and the indigenous people.
The ILP under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873 is an official travel document that allows an Indian citizen to visit in the ILP enforced state and areas for a limited period and with a specific purpose.
The Central government had earlier announced that the CAA would not apply to the ILP and the Tribal Autonomous District Council (TADC) areas.
The ILP had been in force in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram. On December 11, 2019, it was promulgated in Manipur, to allow an Indian citizen into the ILP enforced areas for a stipulated period with the written permission of the state and competent authority.
(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at [email protected])
