Demand For a Greater Tipraland

Context:

The newest political party in Tripura, the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) Motha, floated in 2019, has created a flutter with its demand for a Greater Tipraland.

Relevance:

GS II: Polity and Governance

Dimensions of the Article:

1. Greater Tipraland
2. Genesis of the demand for Greater Tipraland

Greater Tipraland

Core Demands:

• TIPRA Motha’s core ideological demand is Greater Tipraland.
• The party aims to seek a permanent solution that upholds the rights of the indigenous people of Tripura as per the Indian Constitution.
• The objective is to carve out a new state for the 19 indigenous tribes of Tripura under Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution.
• The proposed new state would go beyond the TTAADC Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) areas to include several other villages where the Tiprasa reside in large numbers.

Efforts:

• The TIPRA Motha would set up task forces to connect with the Tiprasa living in other regions of the country and the world to help them with their linguistic, cultural, social, and economic development.
• The party aims to be inclusive and take the non-tribal population along.

Leadership Approach:

• While the core ideology of the party is ethnic nationalism, the leadership has been careful not to project itself as an “of the tribals, by the tribals and for the tribals only” party.
• The party’s leader, Pradyot Manikya, has stated clearly in media interactions that his party is inclusive and aims to take the non-tribal population along.

Genesis of the demand for Greater Tipraland:

• The demand for Greater Tipraland is not a rehash of the earlier demand for Tipraland put forth by the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) in 2009.
• The earlier demand was to carve out a separate state for the tribal population of Tripura from the TTAADC areas.
• The present demand goes beyond the TTAADC areas and includes at least 36 more villages where the tribal population is in the range of 20 to 36%.
• The demand is not exclusive and would not exclude the Muslim and Hindu population within the proposed limits.
• The tribal population in Tripura reduced from almost 50:50 in the 1941 census to a little over 37% in the next census due to the huge influx of refugees from East Pakistan between 1950 and 1952.
• The influx of refugees led to bitter differences and armed insurgency between the tribals and non-tribals in 1980.
• The demand for autonomous regions or separate statehood during this time metamorphosed to sovereignty and independence, but after a political truce was reached, the demand for statehood was revived.

-Source: The Hindu