Extremist leader-turned-politician Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl was on Friday appointed president of the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance(TIPRA), which is governing the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).
TIPRA chairman Pradyot Kishore Debbarman also announced that senior BJP leader Manohar Debbarma had joined the regional party.
Mr. Hrangkhawl, 73, whose Tripura National Volunteers (TNV) laid down arms in 1988 following a tripartite peace accord signed in presence of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in New Delhi, was earlier president of the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT). The INPT and two other local indigenous parties recently merged with the TIPRA.
Speaking to mediapersons, Mr. Debbarman said a new executive committee of TIPRA would be announced soon. He said the party would continue to work to achieve “Thansa” (unity) among different tribal clans and strive to achieve its goal of Greater Tipraland.
Mr. Debbarman said the incumbent authority of the TTAADC would release a whitepaper on June 24 to elaborate about the works done within the tribal council areas during the CPI(M)-led left front rule.
He reiterated the demand for scrapping the Citizenship Amendment Act. TIPRA would soon undertake a door-to-door campaign to gain peoples’ support for Greater Tipraland, he added.
