Manipur issue will be resolved; it is used to troubles: Tripura CM Manik Saha

“Problems now plaguing Manipur will be resolved in due course,” BJP leader and Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha has said.

Saha, who led the BJP to power in Tripura this year, said Manipur was used to troubles.

“I do believe in due course the matter (ethnic violence) will be solved,” he told PTI.

Tripura, which for years battled tribal insurgency, this week witnessed demonstrations by Kuki and other tribes in the Jampui hills protesting against the violence in Manipur.

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Manipur adjoins Tripura, where, he said, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was making steady inroads into the tribal belt which till now has been in the grip of a tribal outfit Tipra Motha.

The four-year-old Tipra Motha led by Prodyut Manikya Debbarma, a scion of the former ruling family of the state, and by Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl, a former militant, has been in talks with the Tripura government and the Centre.

Tribal demands

The group seeks a tribal-controlled Greater Tipraland as well as more funds and autonomy for the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) which the tribal party controls.

Kuki and other tribal communities in Manipur have also demanded a separate administration, a euphemism for separation or greater autonomy from Manipur.

Saha, a former dental surgeon, feels the Manipur unrest will not upset the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, claiming that the Tipra Motha’s voter base may be eroding.

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“They (Tipra Motha) have their own problems. We are gaining entry into tribal areas. We have our own strength through tribal organisations,” he said.

Tipra Motha won 13 seats in the 60-member Tripura assembly and gained nearly 20 per cent of the votes cast, resulting in the defeat of many opposition candidates.

Tribal zone

The RSS and BJP have worked among tribal communities and have spread out in most areas of the state. Both the Congress and CPI(M) too have influence of their own in the tribal areas.

Will the Tipra Motha join the BJP government as part of a peace deal?

“At present we have no such proposal,” Saha said. But in politics, “everything is possible”, he added.

Saha said the BJP was confident of winning both the Lok Sabha seats in Tripura.

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The BJP has been showcasing its highway and railway construction, including a new railway line which will cut travel time to mainland India by going through Bangladesh in this and other northeastern states.

Saha pointed out that roads through Sabroom in Tripura to Chittagong will give us connectivity to Southeast Asia on one side while the railway line through Bangladesh will cut travel time to Kolkata.

(With agency inputs)