AGARTALA: IPFT general secretary Aghore Debbarma has alleged that the party’s slogan of ‘Tipraland’ was stolen by the TIPRA to misguide the people.
He argued that the “Greater Tipraland” slogan is inspired from the call of “Greater Nagaland”.
It is justified because Nagaland exists and now the vision of “Greater Tipraland” stands vindicated.
If there is no Tipraland, formation of Greater Tipraland seems illogical, said Debbarma.
Speaking to the media at Agartala, Debbarma asserted that his party—IPFT was still strong enough to throw a challenge before any potent political force as they “did not break” the trust of people.
“We have never tried to play with people’s emotions. We stick to our demand of separate statehood with the sixth schedule areas and we stand by it. We are in an alliance with the BJP but that did not impact our movement. On August 23 last we held a sit-in demonstration in Delhi and submitted memorandums to the offices of Prime Minister and Home Minister demanding Tipraland,” he said.
Similarly, on August 28 last, he said, “We met the BJP national president and raised the same demand before him. He did not say that the BJP rejected our idea as it has recently bifurcated Ladakh and Jammu. The indigenous people of the state have become a minority in the state owing to historical reasons and if the trend continues our existence will be at stake by 2060.”
On being asked whether they see their demand of Tipraland still possible as no developments in this regard took place even after the IPFT was voted to power, he said, “Everything is possible. Many have argued against the formation of the sixth schedule in Tripura. But, Indira Gandhi took the bold step taking into consideration the demands of the indigenous people. The movement will continue, if we don’t see it happen, our next generation leaders will carry forward our demand.”