Agartala, September 6: Senior Congress MLA and former Minister Sudip Roy Barman on Sunday launched a sharp attack on the BJP-TIPRA Motha understanding, alleging that the two parties have developed a pattern of joining hands in some elections while contesting separately in others.
Reacting to the decision of the BJP, TIPRA Motha and IPFT to jointly contest the upcoming TTAADC Village Committee elections, Roy Barman questioned the political rationale behind their repeated electoral shifts.
Referring to the 2023 Assembly polls, 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 2026 TTAADC elections and the forthcoming Village Committee polls, he said the parties had repeatedly changed their electoral equations.
“2023 you fight separately, 2024 you fight together, then in the ADC election you fight separately, and now again you will fight as friends. What is this?” Roy Barman asked.
He alleged that the arrangement had become a political “trend and pattern” and suggested that the parties could again contest separately in the 2028 Assembly elections.
Roy Barman also targeted TIPRA Motha supremo Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, questioning what he described as the lack of concrete outcomes for indigenous people despite the party’s political understanding with the BJP.
“What is the net result till now? Zero. And it will remain zero,” he said, asserting that the people of Tripura would ultimately judge the alliance.
The Congress leader also questioned the implementation of the March 2, 2024 tripartite agreement between the Centre, Tripura government and TIPRA Motha.
The agreement sought to address issues concerning indigenous people, including history, land and political rights, economic development, identity, culture and language through a time-bound process.
Roy Barman questioned the absence of A.K. Mishra, convenor of the Joint Working Group constituted by the Centre in August 2024, from the latest meeting at Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s residence.
He alleged that the recent meeting amounted to another political discussion without sufficient progress on the accord.
“This was just another political meeting. After two-and-a-half years, again they have gone back to the 2024 era,” he said.
Roy Barman also questioned why Debbarma should repeatedly seek assurances from BJP leaders if his demands are within the Constitution.
He urged TIPRA Motha to take a firm independent position on indigenous rights and said Congress had clear positions on constitutional safeguards, financial provisions, language and Roman script for Kokborok.
The BJP and TIPRA Motha contested separately in 2023, but after the 2024 accord, TIPRA Motha joined the BJP-led state government and the parties worked together in the Lok Sabha polls.
They again contested separately in the 2026 TTAADC elections, where TIPRA Motha won 24 of 28 seats.
Following their latest New Delhi meeting, BJP, TIPRA Motha and IPFT have decided to contest the Village Committee elections together, scheduled for September 28.
Roy Barman questioned the repeated political shifts and asked how long the parties would “play with the sentiments and emotions” of indigenous people.
