Tripura 2023: How Deft Manoeuvrings By BJP Stumped Tribal Party Led By Royal Scion

The BJP has trumped tribal party Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA), also known as ‘Tipra Motha’ by dramatically resurrecting its ties with the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT). 

The Tipra Motha was expecting the IPFT to enter into an alliance with it or merge with it since both the tribal parties share the common goal of carving out a separate Tipraha state for tribals.

The IPFT fought the 2018 Assembly elections in the state in alliance with the BJP and won eight seats. But over the past two years, as the Tipra Motha captured the imagination of the tribals and started gaining strength, the IPFT suffered loss of hundreds of its workers and functionaries to the Tipra Motha. 

The Tipra Motha, led by the scion of the erstwhile royal family, Pradyot Manikya Bikram Deb Barma, entered into talks with the BJP last week to forge a pre-poll alliance. But Deb Barma insisted on a written commitment from the BJP that it would support the demand for a separate Tipraha state to be carved out of Tripura.

The BJP refused to issue such a statement, but assured the Tipra Motha leadership that it would work towards accelerating development of the tribal areas of the state and roll out more welfare schemes for the tribals. 

But Pradyot Deb Barma remained adamant on a written pledge from the BJP that it would support a ‘Constitutional resolution’ of the separate state demand. A Tipra delegation that was invited to New Delhi for talks with the Union Home Ministry also insisted on a written commitment. Both the talks broke down over Tipra Motha’s intransigence. 

Realising that a pre-poll agreement with the Tipra Motha was not possible, the quick-footed BJP leadership immediately reached out to the IPFT, which was inching towards formalising an alliance, if not a merger, with the Tipra Motha. 

Senior BJP leaders, including the saffron party’s pointsman in Northeast--Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma--spoke to IPFT leaders and prevailed on them to remain in the BJP-led alliance. 

The BJP leadership had to, at the same time, announce the party’s list of candidates. The central election committee of the party met Friday evening and decided to declare the names of its candidates for only 48 of the 60 Assembly seats in the state. 

BJP national president J.P.Nadda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, took the decision at the party’s election committee meeting to leave room for an alliance with the IPFT. 

The fast-paced developments completely flummoxed Pradyot Deb Barma who was banking on ‘unity of tribal parties’ to defeat the BJP in at least the 20 Assembly seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs). 

Deb Barma, who was with the Congress before he floated his own outfit, expressed his bewilderment in a tweet late Saturday afternoon. He revealed that he had been expecting IPFT leaders to call him since morning. 

IPFT leaders told Swarajya that a formal decision on merging their party, or reaching an electoral understanding, with the Tipra Motha was supposed to have been taken by Saturday morning. But the BJP made an offer which, as the proverb goes, the IPFT leadership simply could not refuse. 

Deb Barma was left out in the cold and his repeated attempts to reach out to the IPFT leaders came to naught. “They (IPFT leaders) are not even taking my calls. I can’t get through to any of them!” he dejectedly told his aides. 

The IPFT fielded candidates in nine seats in the 2018 elections while the BJP contested from 51 seats. The BJP had won 36 seats then. 

The BJP-IPFT alliance worked well even after the elections and the two parties maintained very cordial ties over the past five years. But the IPFT leadership panicked when a large number of its workers and functionaries started joining the Tipra Motha. 

That is why the IPFT leaders started considering Tipra Motha’s offer to merge, or have an electoral alliance, seriously. IPFT leaders felt that the party would suffer at the hustings if it fought the Tipra Motha. 

A BJP leader who was involved in the negotiations with the IPFT over the past two days told Swarajya that the leaders of the tribal ally had to be convinced that a BJP-IPFT alliance would be able to put up a good fight against the Tipra Motha. 

BJP leaders also told the IPFT leadership that the Tipra Motha’s demand for a separate Tipraha state would never bear fruit and Deb Barma would have to seek an alliance with the BJP after the elections in order to retain political relevance in the state. 

BJP and IPFT leaders held parleys throughout Saturday and by evening, it was decided that the IPFT would field candidates from five seats while the BJP would contest from 55 seats. 

The continuance of the BJP-IPFT alliance was announced at a press conference at state capital Agartala Saturday evening. Chief Minister Manik Saha, who addressed the press meet, said: “We have decided to continue the alliance with IPFT which we had formed before the Assembly elections in 2018. BJP has never severed an alliance with any party. Many parties left us, but we did not and so we have agreed to support IPFT candidates in five constituencies as per discussions with IPFT leaders”. 

When asked about the IPFT’s demand for a separate state, BJP state president Rajeeb Bhattacharyya said that the BJP would continue to work towards the development of tribals of Tripura, but would not allow a division of the state. 

IPFT leaders, on the other hand, brushed aside such questions and said they would concentrate on the immediate task of winning the five seats that their candidates will be contesting from. 

A dejected Tipra Motha, which is widely perceived to have been propped up by the CPI(M) to damage the BJP-IPFT alliance’s poll prospects in the tribal areas, announced its list of candidates for 20 seats. Another list is expected to be declared by Sunday (January 29) evening. 

The Tipra Motha is now faced with the prospect of fighting not just the IPFT, but also the BJP, in the tribal areas. With the Congress-Left alliance also fielding candidates from the 20 seats reserved for STs, Tipra Motha’s objective of preventing a division of tribal votes lies in tatters.