‘We have just started walking’: Sudip Roy Barman sees Congress revival in Tripura hills

Tripura Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman on October 6 described the party’s performance in the recently concluded Village Committee elections as the beginning of its political revival in the state’s tribal areas, claiming that around 14 Congress-backed independent candidates had won.

Roy Barman said the Congress had entered the elections with limited expectations in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) region, where the party had remained organisationally weak for several years.

“Sometimes we depended on TUJS, sometimes on IPFT, INPT and sometimes TNV. Now we have just started walking,” he said, referring to the regional political organisations the Congress had relied on in the past.

According to Roy Barman, preliminary figures indicated that around 14 independent candidates backed by the Congress had won in the Village Committee polls. He said the number could rise to 20-22 once the final results were compiled.

He also claimed that several of the victorious independent candidates were likely to join the Congress in the coming days.

Roy Barman said the victories should be viewed as a positive development for the party’s organisation in the tribal belt, while stressing that the Congress did not seek to undermine the performance of other parties.

“Irrespective of political affiliation, we congratulate all those who have won,” he said.

Taking aim at the BJP’s presentation of the results, Roy Barman claimed that the party had won around 18.7 per cent of the seats on its own and alleged that the BJP was highlighting the figures as an NDA victory.

“Tipra Motha is not projecting its victories as an NDA victory. It is presenting them as the victory of Tipra Motha,” he said.

He also criticised proposed victory celebrations by the BJP and IPFT, alleging that the results were being projected in a manner that could create a misleading political narrative.

The Village Committee elections were held in areas under the TTAADC, with the results emerging as an indicator of the organisational strength of various political parties and regional groups in the tribal areas.

Looking ahead, Roy Barman said the Congress was preparing for the upcoming municipal elections and indicated that the party could contest independently if the CPI(M) also decided to fight the polls on its own.