Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
referred to as bubagara (King) or King by the people of Tripura Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma In the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) elections in 2021, his three-year-old party TIPRA Motha has taken the state by storm.
He denied Offers from both the ruling BJP and the opposition Left Front-Congress alliance for the pre-poll alliance, stuck to their demand that they a Written Assurances on Greater TipralandSeen as a movement for statehood. His party is contesting on 42 seats 16 February Assembly Election,
excerpts from his interview with Hindu,
BJP says that electing Tipra Motha would be a waste of votes.
Everyone probably said about the BJP across the country in the past. BJP once got a little over 1% votes in Tripura. Did someone say voting for this would be a waste? People have the right to exercise their franchise. If they waste their vote by electing us, the same logic applies to BJP when it contests in states like Mizoram, Tamil Nadu and Kerala as they cannot hold on to power there.
Is trying to scare people an acknowledgment of the threat posed by your party?
They should have known it better.
TIPRA Motha is contesting on 42 seats, 22 beyond TTAADC which is seen as its comfort zone. Is it a strategy to divide anti-BJP votes through triangular contest?
We are fighting elections in tribal and non-tribal areas because we believe in exclusivity and not exclusivity. Unlike an ethnic BJP ally (Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura), we believe in taking all residents of Tripura along; This is evident from our Bengali, Muslim and other candidates. Our strategy is for our own party, not to divide or consolidate votes of other parties. We are called the B-Team of the BJP, but as a former working president of the Congress, I know that the Congress used to be the B-Team of the CPI(M). They are in the same team now.
There are apprehensions that your dream of Greater Tipperland will lead to the bifurcation of Tripura.
This fear is being raised by those who consider Virat Kohli’s beard acceptable but not a Muslim’s; By those who are psychologically dividing India in the name of religion, Biryani And Casserole, With whom has BJP tied up? Party doing politics in the name of tribals and non-tribals (IPFT) in Tripura. Tripura does not disintegrate when they go to extremes, but disintegrates when we demand Greater Tripuraland, which we are demanding within the constitutional framework. I do not want to divide Tripura. No one will be evicted, and no one will be discriminated against.
Is Greater Tipraland Possible?
Everything is possible when we hold talks within the ambit of the Constitution. There is always a middle ground that protects the interests of both parties. When the Center can talk to the Hurriyat and the NSCN (IM), it can talk to us on an issue close to the heart of the Tiprasa (tribal) people.
If there is a hung assembly, will TIPRA forge an alliance after the Motha polls?
We will not be part of or support any government until our demand for a constitutional solution is met. We will not follow the path of IPFT – keep quiet with a few berths in the (BJP-led) ministry.
Why are you not contesting elections?
This election is not about me. It’s about the issues we stand for. None of our senior leaders including President Bijoy Kumar Harangkhal is contesting the elections. We are not interested in becoming MLA, minister or even chief minister. As leaders, we must be able to make sacrifices for the core issue.