Removing ST status for tribals converted to Christians – a ploy to break unity: Pradyot demands Govt’s respond

The royal scion Pradyot Kishore Deb Burman, who stepped down as the Chairman of the opposition TIPRA Motha party and decided to serve party as a warrior on Monday castigated the BJP led coalition government in Tripura and said, “Conspiracies are being hatched to divide the Tiprasas of our state living in ADC.”

“I came through a statement where the ST status for the tribals who turned to Christianity was demanded to be withdrawn. What is the response of the state government in this regard when a sitting MLA and an organization made this demand? This is a total ploy to damage the unity of the Tiprasas,” he told reporters in a press conference here in the Ujjayanta Palace on Monday.

He alleged, “There have been ploys to break the thansa (Unity) in the name of language, script and religion, TIPRA Motha will not allow the 'Manipur experiment' to happen in Tripura.”

“All are alarmed by the killing of 18 people in the panchayat elections in West Bengal, but why has the Centre failed to take proper initiative in Manipur even after the mass killings and arson?”, he asked.

Reacting on the budget allocation made for the TTAADC, Pradyot said, “Government should respond to the discrimination made towards the Tiprasas in ADC by reducing the budget allocation. Only 2% fund allocation for the ADC is not Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas.”

“Government is punishing the Tiprasa community in the name of TIPRA Motha. During the assembly election, the tribals voted for the BJP and IPFT too, then why their Tiprasa voters in ADC will get 2%,” he questioned to state that the ADDC is reeling under acute financial crisis.

He said, “The education sector of the TTAADC is ruined. At least 10 schools in ADC are running with single teacher. Is this what we call quality education?”

He continued castigating the government and expressed his concern over the delay of holding the Village Council election. He said, “The government would need to respond to the High Court as to why they failed to conduct the village committee election, which was postponed many times.”

Meanwhile, Pradyot on Monday said that the plenary session of the TIPRA Motha had passed several resolutions. “We have decided to build TIPRA Motha party office in all the eight districts of the state. Committees will be constituted by September to get the party ready for the village committee polls.

“We are also going to launch mass agitation on the party's decisions adopted in the plenary session, because we are not here to compromise our demand for Greater Tipraland,” he told reporters.