A day after the Tipra Motha signed a tripartite agreement with the Centre and the Tripura government, party founder and Tripura royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma on Sunday called off his fast-unto-death agitation being held at Hatai Kotor in West Tripura district from February 28, the Indian Express reported.
Speaking to a crowd of over 30,000 at the protest site, Pradyot Kishore said, “The Government of India has accepted in writing that mistakes were made in the past and they would make Constitutional solutions to correct them. I had said here that I would go empty stomach but wouldn’t come back empty-handed. This victory isn’t a party’s victory, rather it’s the victory of youths, tribal mothers, and children. Our time is gone. Now, we have to think about the next generation.”
Pradyot Kishore said he wanted academics, teachers, lawyers, and learned and honest people who know the history of the state to become members of the Joint Working Group that has been mandated by the accord to resolve all issues of the tribals related to their history, land and political rights, culture, economic development, language, etc.
Terming the accord signed in New Delhi on Saturday as only 60 per cent of the ‘fight’, he said, “We have to work hard to get the remaining 40 per cent. We signed accords earlier and didn’t follow them up… If we get even 70-80 percent of what they assured us, it will bring a major change. And if 30 percent of the population (tribals) benefits, the remaining 70 per cent (non-tribals) will also benefit.”
The Tipra Motha chairman further said that there have been several accords in the past but nothing came out of them. He said that to make the Tiprasa Accord a success, they have a lot of hard work to do.
Although Pradyot Kishore did not clarify speculations about Tipra Motha joining the BJP-led state government in Tripura, he poignantly said the last reigning king of Tripura and his grandfather, Maharaj Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Debbarma, followed the principle of ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas’ by welcoming persecuted people from erstwhile East Pakistan, way before the phrase became politically relevant.
As per a report in the India Today NE, the agreement paper reads: “It was agreed to constitute a Joint Working Group/ Committee to work out and implement the mutually agreed points on all the above mentioned issues in a time-bound manner to ensure an honourable solution. In order to maintain a conducive atmosphere for implementation of this Agreement, all stakeholders shall refrain from resorting to any form of agitation/ protest during this period, starting from the day of signing.”