Tribal youth body protest against Tripura govt’s plan to turn royal palace into hotel

Ruling BJP’s ally Tipra Motha Party’s (TMP), youth wing on Friday staged a massive protest opposing the Tripura government’s reported move to privatise the iconic Pushpabanta Palace and convert it into a five-star hotel by a private group.

Hundreds of men and women of the Twipra Indigenous Students' Federation (TISF), the youth wing of the TMP, demonstrators marched through the city and later gathered in front of Chief Minister Manik Saha’s residence, demanding an immediate rollback of the decision.

The protest rally, which began at Swami Vivekananda Maidan Stadium, saw the protestors chanting slogans against the state government.

The rally culminated at the Tourism Department office, where a delegation led by TISF in-charge James Debbarma and TMP MLA Biswajit Kaloi submitted a memorandum to the Tourism Director, urging the government to preserve the palace’s historical and cultural legacy.

Tensions escalated when protesters learned that Tourism Minister Sushanta Chowdhury, in a press briefing at the state’s civil secretariat confirmed government plans to establish a hotel in the century-old palace.

In response, protesters diverted their rally to the Chief Minister’s residence, blocking important roads and raising slogans.

Police intervened, and the demonstrators dispersed peacefully but threatened to intensify their protests if the decision was not reversed.

TISF leaders emphasised the cultural and emotional significance of the palace for the indigenous communities of Tripura.

“The government’s move to commercialise a site of such historical importance is unacceptable. We will not allow the palace to be reduced to a business venture though we are not against development and so a different plot of land may be given for the proposed hotel,” said TISF’s James Debbarma.

Meanwhile, TMP legislator Biswajit Kaloi has vowed to intensify their agitation statewide if the government proceeds with its privatisation plans, underlining the palace’s deep-rooted importance in Tripura’s cultural identity.

Earlier this week, the TMP’s youth wing, Youth TIPRA Federation (YTF) and the Tipra Students’ Federation (TSF), staged protests in front of the royal palace in Agartala and urged the state government not to hand over the iconic palace to a private hotel group.

Strongly opposing the government’s move, Congress spokesman Prabir Chakraborty said that during his last visit to Tripura in 1926, Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore stayed at the royal mansion and composed many songs sitting on the veranda of the palace.

He said that the then king Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur celebrated Tagore’s 80th birthday in the important palace in 1941.

After India’s Independence Maharani Kanchan Prabha Devi handed over the palace to the state government in 1949, Chakraborty said adding that after President Murmu laid the foundation stone of the Pushpabanta Palace Museum during her visit to Tripura in October 2022, the government had allocated Rs 40 crore for the proposed museum.

“The BJP government is trying to destroy the rich culture, traditions and history of Tripura by making the iconic palace into a business hub,” the Congress spokesman said.

The Pushpabanta Palace also known as Kunjaban Palace was built in 1917 by the then Tripura king Maharaja Birendra Kishore Manikya Debbarma Bahadur on 4.13 acres of land and it served as the Raj Bhavan until 2018 before the Governor’s house was shifted to the Capital Complex area on the outskirts of the city.

The erstwhile Left Front government planned to develop Pushpabanta Palace into a digital museum.