Battleground Tripura: Tracing the demand for 'Greater Tipraland'

New Delhi, Feb 14: The demand for separate statehood 'Greater Tipraland', seeking to carve out tribal areas of Tripura, is likely to dominate the political discourse in the upcoming assembly elections in Tripura. The Tripura Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA Motha), a regional political party led by royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, seeks a separate state for the indigenous people of Tripura.

So, what is Greater Tipraland?

Greater Tipraland is a region in Tripura. It refers to a proposed separate state within India, comprising of the Tripuri-speaking tribal areas in the North-Eastern state of Tripura. The demand for Greater Tipraland is mainly advocated by the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) and some other local tribal organizations.

Demand for seperate statehood to impact polls

The demand for separate statehood may affect results in 20 assembly seats, where tribals hold considerable clout electorally, in the 60-member House. It is must be noted that after he raised the demand for Greater Tipraland, the party swept the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) elections held in April 2021, winning 18 of the 28 seats over the 'Greater Tipraland' demand in a direct contest with the ruling BJP-IPFT alliance. 'Greater Tipraland' is essentially an extension of ruling partner Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura's demand for 'Tipraland', a separate state for tribals by carving out the TTAADC area.

However, the new demand seeks to include every tribal living inside and outside the TTAADC area. The 'Greater Tipraland' idea does not restrict only to Tripura, and seeks to also include Tripuris living in Assam, Mizoram, and Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh.

If 'Greater Tipraland' state is formed, tribals, who form one-third of the population will control two-thirds of the territory, and non-tribals, who form two-thirds of the population, will have to settle with only one-third of Tripura's area.

What are the issues?

The party is demanding a separate state of 'Greater Tipraland' for the indigenous communities of the north-eastern state. They claim that they want the Centre to carve out the separate state under Article 2 and Article 3 of the constitution.

There are 19 notified Scheduled Tribes in Tripura, Tripuris (aka Tipra and Tiprasas) are the largest. According to the 2011 census, among these, 5.92 lakh are Tripuris in the state, 1.88 lakh are Bru or Reangs and Jamatias are 83,000. These three tribal groups are the major tribals in the state. Some of the minor tribal groups have joined hands and formed TIPRA Motha (Tirpaha Indigenous Regional Alliance) and IPFT (Indigenous People's Front of Tripura) political parties. These parties are now demanding that they want a separate state for their 'survival and existence' and also for all communities who live in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) area.

How did the demand originate?

Tripura was a kingdom ruled by the Manikya dynasty from the late 13th century until the signing of the Instrument of Accession with the Indian government on October 15, 1949. The demand for separate state mainly stems from the change in the demographics of the state. The indigenous communities were reduced to a minority due to the displacement of Bengalis from the erstwhile East Pakistan between 1947 and 1971. Their population reduced from 63% in 1881 to 31% by 2011. They have also been dislodged from land reserved for them by the penultimate king of the Manikya dynasty Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarman.

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