The demand for a Greater Tipraland by the TIPRA Motha

Source: The post is based on the article “The demand for a Greater Tipraland by the TIPRA Motha” published in The Hindu on 13^th February 2023.

Syllabus: GS 2 – Governance

Relevance: Demand for new statehood

News: The Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) Motha has come up with the demand for a Greater Tipraland in the current election of Tripura.

What is Greater Tipraland and what are the demands of TIPRA?

The party released its Vision Document in which it said that it was committed in seeking a permanent solution for the rights of the indigenous people of Tripura as per the Constitution of India.

The Greater Tipraland would be carved out as a new State for the 19 indigenous tribes of Tripura under Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution. 

This new state would go beyond the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) areas and include other villages where the Tiprasa (indigenous people of Tripura) reside in large numbers.

The party would also set up task forces to connect with the Tiprasa living in other regions of the country and the world to help them with their linguistic, cultural, social, and economic development.

What is the genesis of this demand?

The demand for Greater Tipraland has emerged from the demand for Tipraland put forth by the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) in 2009.

The demand for Tipraland was to carve out a separate State for the tribal population of Tripura from the TTAADC areas.

Whereas, the demand for Greater Tipraland goes beyond the TTAADC areas and includes at least 36 more villages where the tribal population is in the range of 20% to 36%. This also includes Muslims and Hindu population living in those regions.

Moreover, the demand for a separate statehood escalated after the refugees from East Pakistan came in Tripura between 1950 and 1952.

The conflict between the tribals and non-tribals escalated in 1980 and it took the shape of armed insurgency. However, after an agreement between the government and tribal group the matter was settled up.

Hence, from those time there has been conflict between the two and the demand for autonomous region has been emerging.

What is the implication of this demand on Tripura?

The demand for Greater Tipraland put forth by TIPRA has further deteriorated the relation between tribals and non-tribals living in the state.