Agartala: The Tripura People’s Front (TPF) on Sunday joined the ruling BJP despite all efforts made by Tipraha Indigenous People’s Regional Alliance (TIPRA) chairman Pradyot Kishore Deb Barman to unite the indigenous political parties.
TPF chief Patal Kanya Jamatia joined the BJP at a programme in the presence of chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb, party president Prof Dr Manik Saha, Union Minister of State (MoS) for Social Justice and Empowerment Partima Bhoumik, among others.
Addressing the rally, Jamatia said the decision to join BJP was to ensure the safety, security and peace among the people living in tribal areas.
“The TIPRA activists attacked our party workers and threatened them if they arrived at the joining program in Agartala. They stopped the vehicle and blocked the road to prevent our supporters from reaching the venue,” Jamatia said.
She also criticized the TIPRA chief for for his Greater Tipraland demand and said, “It is the ‘greater unity’ between tribes and non-tribes which is required to ensure overall development of the masses and co-existence.”
The TPF was formed in 2014 with the aim to fight for the indigenous rights as socio-political. Later, it started political activities and fielded candidates in the district council election, which was later withdrawn after a meeting with TIPRA chairman Pradyot Kishore Deb Barman.
While praising the leadership of Biplab Kumar Deb, Jamatia said he is the first chief minister of Tripura who wants to create equal opportunities for both indigenous and non-indigenous people.
“We shall work to ensure that the double engine government gets two more engines in the TTAADC and Village councils. The political activities of TPF will be stopped, but its fight for the social cause will continue under the same banner. The entire TPF is now part of the BJP,” Jamatia added.
Meanwhile, reacting against the statement made by Jamatia, TIPRA Chairman Pradyot Kishore Deb Barman said, “After the statement made by Patal Kanya Jamatia, the question of alliance with BJP does not arise.”
“Patal Kanya is a big leader in BJP, so I will take it as the statement of BJP. We are a small party and BJP is a big and rich party. However, we have self respect. BJP should be ready to face us in all the 35 seats that we are contesting. BJP has ruled themselves out from alliance after this statement,” Deb Barman told EastMojo.
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