Opinion: Opposition must Unite if BJP is to be Defeated in Tripura Tribal Council Election

By: Mrinal Banik

As the polls to the TTAADC (Tripura Territorial Autonomous District Council) are in wait of being declared officially, the regional political outfits, mostly the indigenous parties have initiated open dialogues to form a greater front in order to combat the emerging grip of the ruling BJP party in the ADCs. In my opinion, with the uncertainty looming large over a pre-poll arrangement between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the IPFT, the allies in the ruling government, the political dynamics in the hilly parts look volatile.

As per the political analysts, if the regional parties can not come under a single fold, there will be no alternative for the ruling BJP as the ADC ruling Left has almost lost its ground after being ousted in the last assembly elections.

The regional parties—INPT(Indigenous Nationalists Party of Twipra), NCT (National Conference of Tripura), TSP (Twipraland State Party), IPFT-T (Indigenous People’s Front of Twipra Ha), TPF (Tripura people’s Front) and even the ruling alliance partner IPFT(Indigenous People’s Front of Twipra), who deals in the indigenous politics are considering the ensuing ADC polls as their battle of existence.

Some of the veteran regional political leaders under condition of anonymity have said that if the regional parties fail to merge in a joint forum before the ADC polls, it would be an easy elections to win for the Bharatiya Janata Party.

On the other hand, Tripura Upajati Ganamukti Parishad (TGMP), the tribal wing of opposition CPIM and the ruling force in the ADC is also wholeheartedly trying to retain the last Left bastion by introducing new welfare schemes. However, it still may not be enough to woo voters before the polls.

A few months ago, the ADC council suffered a crisis of hung assembly after the larger fraction of the ADC under the leadership of Patiram Tripura, the lone BJP member of the council, moved the governor's house seeking to bring a “no trust” move.

Meanwhile, the emerging popularity of TIPRA (The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance) — a non-political organization floated by former Congressman and royal head Pradyot Kishore Debbarman has also come into view as a matter of concern for the existing political parties.

Pradyot who left Congress over his tough stand on the NRC, has been catapulted into the limelight as a new face in the genre of ingenious politics.

However, the open dialogues launched by most of the regional political parties such as INPT, TSP and NCT to fight the polls unitedly have failed miserably after the common minimum programme could not get an unanimous nod from the leaders.

Party insiders said, “There have been some problems to be settled. But, so far talks did not take a concrete shape between the parties. Moreover, as of now, nobody is interested to dissolve their identity according to the whims of major party (INPT)”.

On the other hand, IPFT leaders also seem reluctant to speak anything about the pre-poll arrangements. Meanwhile, the ruling BJP, after resolving the two decade long imbroglio of Bru refugees took a step ahead in catching the tribal sentiments.

The recent assembly resolution that increased the council strength from 30 to 50 is being also seen as a pro-tribal move, as a whole. BJP leaders like Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Barma and MP Rebati Kumar Tripura are working tirelessly in the ADC areas, even eating up the vote share of its own ally IPFT.

At the same time, the BJP Janajati Morcha, the tribal wing of the BJP has already hinted that they are gearing up to fight the polls on their own. Even the party wing had also written to Party’s present National President JP Nadda seeking the high command’s nod to fight the polls alone.

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