By Debraj Deb
Days after the state government said it is acting as per a recent guideline from the centre to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT), which is BJP’s other alliance partner in the state government, on Saturday reiterated the demand for a separate Tipraland state for the tribals.
The IPFT, which wants the separate state to comprise Tripura’s tribal council areas, said tribal interests can’t be protected by simply keeping the ADC areas outside the ambit of the CAA.
The demand came even as the BJP’s other ruling alliance partner TIPRA Motha said the CAA wouldn’t allow immigrants to get legal rights in Tripura ADC areas.
Speaking to reporters, IPFT vice president Pradip Debbarma said, “Tribal interests wouldn’t be protected by keeping the TTAADC outside the ambit of the CAA alone. Implementing this act in the non-ADC areas will change the demographic composition of the state’s population. This will further lead the tribals to become minorities, which in turn will lead to less reserved seats for Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, less reserved benefits in education and jobs. The tribals will become non-existent at some time.”
The IPFT leader also claimed issues centering reservation for Tripuri tribals wouldn’t rise anymore if a separate state is formed comprising the Tripura ADC areas.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.
