Last Update: March 02, 2023, 12:26 pm IST
Tipra Motha President Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma. (News18)
With the IPFT failing to deliver on its promise of ‘Tipraland’, a populist demand raised before the 2018 elections, Debbarma cashed in on his royal legacy to systematically enter tribal areas.
Pradyot Manikya Debbarma, scion of Tripura’s erstwhile royal family, has always been a lone ranger. As he campaigned for the politically active polls, with votes being counted on Thursday, Debbarma was clear about his alliance plans – “I would prefer ‘ekla chalo re’ and rather than aligning with parties in the opposition I will sit,” he had told News18 a few days ago.
However, if the counting trends so far are anything to go by, Raja is set to play kingmaker as his regional party, Tipra Motha, dashed the ruling BJP’s hopes in 12 of the 20 assembly constituencies reserved for Scheduled Tribe categories. Have turned sailing through the Left-Congress alliance.
As per the latest trends, the BJP-IPFT alliance is leading on 30 seats, one short of the magic number in the 60-member assembly. Meanwhile, the opposition Left-Congress alliance is leading in 17 seats.
Early trends indicate that Tipra Motha is set to eat into the BJP’s vote share substantially in the tribal areas of the state.
In the 2018 elections, the saffron party won 10 seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes, while its ally the Swadeshi People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), won eight. The CPI(M) had won two seats.
This time, Tipra Motha has replaced the IPFT as the most prominent tribal party as it has clearly won over the support of a large section of the tribal electorate with Debbarma’s promise of a ‘Greater Tipraland’.
The BJP’s alliance with the IPFT was credited as a major factor behind the toppling of the Left Front government in the 2018 elections. With the IPFT failing to deliver on its promise of ‘Tipraland’, a populist demand raised ahead of the 2018 elections, Debbarma cashed in on his royal heritage to systematically infiltrate tribal areas.
Gradually, he managed to portray himself as the taste of the indigenous people, who began calling him ‘Bubagra (King)’, and reduced the IPFT to an expendable force in tribal-dominated areas.
Debbarma’s plan worked a charm as his newly formed party nipped the IPFT in the April 2022 Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) elections just three months after its formation. The hills have also handed over control to Tipra Motha.
In the TTAADC elections, Tipra Motha won 18 seats, while the BJP could win only 10. Despite several attempts at outreach, neither the ruling BJP nor the opposition CPI(M) could forge an alliance with Tipra Motha for the assembly elections.
(With inputs from PTI)
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