Agartala, August 3:
The Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), junior ally in the BJP-led state government, announced it will organize a massive rally in Agartala on August 23 to reiterate its demand for a separate state of Tipraland comprising areas under the Sixth Schedule.
Speaking to the media on Sunday, IPFT General Secretary Swapan Debbarma said that at the conclusion of the rally, a demand draft for the formation of Tipraland will be submitted to the Governor of Tripura. He stressed that the demand for Tipraland remains the party’s core ideological commitment.
Debbarma also briefed the media on the party’s recent meeting with the Election Commission of India regarding the ongoing Special Summary Revision (SSR) of electoral rolls. “We urged that no genuine Indian citizen be excluded from the rolls. The verification must be generation-wise based on the 1971 voter list, as identification without proper documentation is unreliable,” he said.
He recalled that during the intensive revision of 1993 and 1994, over one lakh doubtful voters had been identified but their names were never removed, urging the Commission to consider these past findings.
Debbarma clarified that despite being part of the ruling alliance, IPFT reserves the right to hold independent protests. “This provision is mentioned in the very first point of the common minimum programme agreed upon by BJP and IPFT leaders,” he stated.
Highlighting broader regional initiatives, he said IPFT participated in the National Federation of New States (NFNS) conference in Meghalaya on July 29, where it was decided that a sit-in protest would be held at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar later this year with representatives from all northeastern states.
August 23, observed as Sixth Schedule Day, is also marked by IPFT as Tipraland Demand Day.
