The royal scion of Tripura, Pradyot Kishore Manikya Deb Burman, on Saturday said politics has divided the people and destroyed the Tiprasa (people of Tripura) and appealed to tribals and non-tribals to unite in order to reject Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
A rally was organised at Dasharam Para of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council against CAA by Deb Burman’s The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA), a newly-floated apolitical party formed on December 24.
Nearly 10,000 people attended the rally.
Deb Burman said, “The politics and the politicians have divided us and destroyed our community.We should reject all the political parties and politicians. For their vote bank politics, they have divided us.”
Deb Burman said there are “some people” who tried to create a communal clash between the indigenous and the Bengalis of the state.
“I appealed to all the tribals not to treat Bengalis as enemies. CAA was passed by politicians in New Delhi and so, the ‘dofa’ (people) should struggle against them. Bengalis are not our enemies, the main enemies are the politicians who have sold us,” he said.
Deb Burman made it clear that he is not going to shelter any more foreigners in the state and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take all the foreigners to Gujarat, Tamil Nadu or in other states except Tripura and the Northeast. “The politicians have passed this CAA just for vote-bank politics. It should be scrapped,” he said.
Deb Burman said there is a very clear message that the indigenous people of Tripura are against the CAA.
“Tripura has already accommodated many people. We are requesting the government of India to be considerate. Because the plight of the indigenous people is in grave danger and under threat. We want assurances from the government of India and we don’t want this act to be implemented in Tripura,” he said.
Referring to his petition, Deb Burman said, “We shall struggle peacefully but we shall not rest until the goal is achieved. I have filed a petition with the Supreme Court. If needed, I shall continue to struggle till my death.”
Leaders of nearly all tribal political parties, including Tripura’s ruling ally Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT), IPFT-Tipraha, Tripura Peoples Front (TPF), Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT),Tripura United Indigenous Peoples’ Council (TUIPC) joined the protest.