Tripura: BJP to demand more autonomy for tribals

Central observer and state in-charge of BJP Sunil Deodhar said safeguarding and protecting Tribals' political and economic rights is of utmost importance.

Agartala, Jan 16: The BJP on Monday said it would demand more autonomy to the tribals of Tripura and authority for the present Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), which constitute two-third of the state territory.

"We want to form a tribal Council within TTAADC area as the tribals of the state can enjoy more autonomy and safeguard and protect their political and economic rights," Central observer and state in-charge of BJP Sunil Deodhar said.

"We feel that the present district council cannot fulfill the aspirations of the tribals. It should be given more authority," he added.

When asked if the tribal council would be in line with the Bodo Territorial Council in Assam, he said, BJP's central tribal wing and state committee in Tripura were working on it.

"Our state committee and central tribal wing are researching on the issue and very soon we would announce the form of autonomy in the state," he told PTI.

When his attention was drawn about formation of All Tripura Indigenous Regional Parties Forum (ATIRPF) with all non-left tribal parties, Deodhar said his party welcomed the formation of the forum.

"This is an anti-left tribal forum and ours is an anti- left national party which wants to oust CPI-M from the helm of affairs. We wanted to unite all non-left tribal parties to give boost to our movement to oust CPI-M, but with they (tribal parties) themselves taking the initiative to forge unity, we welcome this move," Deodhar said.

The forum has opposed the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 introduced by BJP and yesterday announced to support a 12-hour strike in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) on February 8 called by Indigenous Political Forum of Tripura (IPFT) , a constituent of the forum. Three tribal parties - Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT), National Council of Tripura (NCT) and IPFT - have formed the forum.

"Before we forge a formal alliance with the forum, (we) would discuss many issues and sort out the problems," he said.

PTI