Tripura: BJP Joins Forces with IPFT and TMP for Village Committee Elections

Agartala, March 16 (NationPress) The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to participate in the upcoming significant elections for the Village Committees in partnership with its allies — the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) and the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT). Notably, the TMP contested the 2023 Assembly elections independently.

The vital elections for the 587 Village Committees (VCs) under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) are anticipated to occur in the next two to three months. Consequently, all political factions in the state have ramped up their activities in tribal regions, focusing on the VCs, which are akin to Gram Panchayats in non-TTAADC territories.

These politically significant VC elections are long overdue.

The President of Tripura BJP, Rajib Bhattacharjee, confirmed that his party will contest the elections in collaboration with the IPFT and TMP.

"The BJP upholds coalition Dharma, as our former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee established the NDA with numerous parties. Our current Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also preserved the coalition governance system. We will collectively participate in the VC elections under the TTAADC after discussions with our allies, TMP and IPFT," Bhattacharjee, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, informed the media.

He noted that the BJP’s Janajati Morcha, the tribal wing of the ruling party, has already brought attention to the positive initiatives of the BJP-led coalition government aimed at enhancing the welfare of the tribal communities, which represent one-third of Tripura's population of over 4 million.

On Sunday, the BJP hosted a state-level event titled 'Empowering Janajati, Empowering Tripura', showcasing the achievements of both the state and central governments.

Bhattacharjee announced that similar programs will be organized at district, sub-divisional, and block levels, emphasizing that the BJP-led government prioritizes the development of tribal areas and allocates substantial funds for various development projects, including road construction, water supply, healthcare, housing, and livelihood support in tribal-dominated regions.

At the behest of the state BJP government, the union administration under Prime Minister Narendra Modi successfully resolved the 23-year-long Reng tribal issue by rehabilitating internally displaced families in the state. Additionally, 18 Eklavya Model Residential Schools have been approved to ensure proper education for tribal students.

Approximately 37,584 displaced Reang tribals (locally known as Bru) migrated from Mizoram between 1997 and 2009 due to ethnic conflicts, and following a quadripartite agreement signed on January 16, 2020, they were settled in 12 locations across four districts in Tripura — North Tripura, Dhalai, Gomati, and South Tripura.

The TTAADC, established under the Sixth Schedule for the socio-economic advancement of tribals, comprises 587 VCs, with elections originally scheduled for January or February 2021.

Despite the five-year term of the VC expiring in February 2021, elections were postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing court cases.

The TMP, which has been governing the crucial TTAADC since April 2021, has been advocating for ‘Greater Tipraland’ (a separate state for tribals) under Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution.

The ruling BJP, along with opposition parties such as the CPI-M and Congress, has opposed this demand. Following a tripartite agreement with the Centre and the Tripura government on March 2 last year, the opposition TMP joined the BJP-led coalition government on March 7, 2024, with two of its MLAs — Animesh Debbarma and Brishaketu Debbarma — assuming ministerial positions.

The BJP, together with the IPFT and TMP, also collaborated in the recent Lok Sabha elections in Tripura, despite the TMP participating separately in the assembly elections of 2023.