AGARTALA
A resolution against the “discriminatory” Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 was among 15 missions the Tipra Motha spelt out in its manifesto released on Saturday for the February 16 Tripura elections.
The regional party headed by the State’s royal scion Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma also affirmed to stand by its core demand of a “permanent constitutional solution for the indigenous people of Tripura”, while promising to execute these missions in 150 days if voted to power.
The permanent constitutional solution pertains to Greater Tipraland, an idea that is expected to be the panacea for all ills primarily afflicting the 19 indigenous communities.
“We are perhaps the only local party that has come out with an election manifesto so that there’s a written record of what we have assured. We have tried to cover everything from youth and women empowerment, rights of the poor, creation of jobs, rehabilitation of retrenched teachers and ensuring freedom of the press gagged by the current dispensation,” Mr. Debbarma, the Tipra Motha chief said.
“Until a permanent constitutional solution for the indigenous people is not achieved, we shall continue to fight for their rights,” he said.
He said if the Tipra Motha forms the government, one of the first missions would be to pass a resolution in the Assembly for scrapping the CAA. “Unlike those who believe in discriminating people on the basis of their religion and ethnicity, we believe in inclusivity and cannot have a law that is against a religious community,” he said.
Mr. Debbarma said he was not ashamed of adopting the best practices of other political parties such as the Aam Aadmi Party. “Our mission for improving healthcare services reflects the AAP model,” he added.
One of the party’s missions is a socio-economic survey to document all tribes, sub-tribes, castes and other communities for designing various schemes as well as weeding out cases of fake caste certificates.
Another mission is the setting up of a tribal university, sports university, agriculture university and a Buddhist university to make Tripura a major Buddhist centre of learning and meditation, Mr. Debbarma said.
The other missions include jobs for 10,323 sacked teachers who the “BJP failed to rehabilitate despite promising to” in 2018, create 20,000 jobs, increase the budgetary allowance for the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous Development Council, conduct long-overdue village committee elections, allot land patta to “all those who have been deprived for decades”, and form a village-level all-women task force to tackle drug trafficking.
