GUWAHATI: The Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), an ally of the BJP-led government in Tripura, has decided to take the agitation for the creation a separate state, Twipraland, to the national capital.
A delegation from the tribal-based party, led by IPFT president NC, Debbarma, is heading for New Delhi on December 11 to press for not just the long pending demand for Twipraland, but two other core demands.
“Apart from pressing for our long-pending demand for a separate state, we want the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 to be withdrawn by the Centre besides the holding of a by-election to the vacant posts of village committees in the in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC),” party spokesperson, Mangal Debbarma told The Shillong Times on Sunday.
“A sit-in demonstration would be staged, probably at Jantar Mantar, during the winter session of Parliament as we want all the members of Parliament to support our demands and raise them on the floor of the House,” Debbarma said.
The party delegation also plans to meet the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister to apprise them of the issues and problems faced by indigenous groups in Tripura.
INPT is already on agitation mode in the state over these three core demands, for which it has called a dawn-to-dusk bandh in the areas under TTAADC on December 5.
“The 12-hour bandh has been called from 6am in the TTAADC areas over the three-point charter of demands. The decision to call the bandh on December 5 was taken at a party meeting recently,” he said.
The party, it may be noted, has been spearheading the demand for an Assam-like National Register of Citizens (NRC) since a long time along with other indigenous parties, although the Delhi visit would focus on drawing attention of the Centre and parliamentarians towards the three core issues.