Why Tripura’s youngest MLA says youth are ‘bound to join politics’

Agartala: Until a few years ago, Paul Dangshu was a banking professional, eking out a living like millions across the country. But on March 2, his life changed forever when he was elected as the MLA from the Karamcherra assembly constituency.

Dangshu, the lead media in charge of the TIPRA Motha party for the past few years, defeated Congress veteran Diba Chandra Hrangkhwal.

In an exclusive interaction with the EastMojo, Dangshu expressed his views on the present political scenario of the state and his views on the talks between the Government of India and TIPRA Motha regarding the “constitutional solution”.

When asked about the participation of the youth in politics, he said, “Our Maharaj (Pradyot Kishore Debbarman) always thinks out of the box. The youth suffers the most. It has been almost a decade that issues like unemployment remain unaddressed. We are bound to come to politics. We want to know the reality. What is preventing the government from creating employment opportunities for the educated and skilled youth.”

“As an opposition party leader, I must admit that enough is not being done for educating the people. We want education first. When we say constitutional solution, it does not mean political power. It also speaks about the education of our people. Education and infrastructure are included in the constitutional solution. If the issue of unemployment is not getting solved that means there is no good governance.”

When asked about his views on representing a regional party, he said, “The biggest difference between regional and national parties is that national parties dictate terms to their leaders. On the other hand, regional parties have a bargaining chip to get the desired work done. As a regional party, we know about our roots. We know about lapses and shortages and we can rectify that. As a regional party, we can bargain for our rights.”

On his sudden change of role from a media handler to a legislator, he said, even if was never a professional politician he had been in politics for a long time. “I was not on the ground. But, in some way or another, I was close to politics. Even now I am the media in charge of my party. I am thankful to Maharaj for allowing me to fight elections and to the people of my constituency for showering their blessings upon me,” he pointed out.

Dangshu, who was also a member of the TMP delegation that met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the State Guest House in Agartala after the swearing-in ceremony of the new cabinet, hoped that the talks between the Central government and TIPRA Motha Party would culminate in a successful note. “Few weeks ago, Home Minister Amit Shah met our leaders over our core demand. I was also a part of the discussion. Assam CM, Tripura CM, BJP National President JP Nadda were also there in the meeting. They have said that they would come up with something concrete for us and we trust them. We hope something good for us is on the cards,” he told EastMojo. 

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