Agartala: A performing arts academy named after Bollywood great and Tripura’s son of the soil S. D. Burman, Maharaja Bir Bikram Maniktala Tribal University, annual financial assistance to tribal families feature in the BJP manifesto for the poll-bound Northeast state where it has banked heavily on tribal pride.
After unveiling the party’s poll manifesto Thursday, BJP national president J. P. Nadda accused the rival alliance of the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) of having mired the state in corruption and lawlessness.
The ills had been ended by the BJP, Nadda said in his public rally at Khayerpur.
Nadda’s tirade against the national parties notwithstanding, the elephant in the BJP manifesto was the newly formed Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA Motha) headed by Pradyot Deb Barma, a descendant of Maharaja Bir Bikram and a man believed to have a strong base in the 20 odd tribal seats in the state.
Motha has decided to field candidates in 43 Assembly seats, leading to speculation about whether his advent would benefit the BJP by splitting opposition votes. On Monday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah thundered in his rally at Tripura that Motha is in an informal “secret” alliance with the Congress and the Left parties.
The election to the 60 seats in Tripura will take place on 16 February. While the BJP is contesting in 55 seats, it has left the remaining five seats for its ally Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura.
The BJP manifesto promised to introduce Kokborok in 943 schools, Chakma in 58 schools and Halam-Kuki in 49 schools. All three are languages spoken in the tribal areas.
It promised that once re-elected the BJP government would “restructure TTAADC (Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council) to provide the council with greater autonomy and additional legislative, executive, administrative, and financial powers, within the framework of the proposed 125th Constitution Amendment Bill.”
Under the Tripura Janjati Bikash Yojana, an annual financial assistance of ₹5,000 was promised to be given to Scheduled Tribe families. The ruling party also promised to establish the Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Tribal University in Gandacherra to research, promote and preserve tribal culture and studies.
It also vowed to increase the honorarium from ₹2,000 per month to ₹5,000 per month to the community leaders in tribal areas, Pradhan Samajpatis.
Also Read: Would rather sit in opposition than dilute our core demands, says TIPRA chief Pradyot Debbarma
Pilgrimage scheme for senior citizens
In the Vijay Sankalp rally which was also addressed by Chief Minister Manik Saha, Nadda said that the BJP had fulfilled its 2018 promises and would in the next term bring an investment of Rs 50,000 crore for the state.
“In the next five years we will bring in an investment of Rs 50000 crore for Tripura and make this the vibrant economy of the Northeast. Special economic zones will be made and to ensure basic infrastructure development in villages, we will spend Rs 600 crore,” Nadda said.
Taking a page from the book of the Aam Aadmi Party’s Delhi government, he announced that a pilgrimage scheme for senior citizens would be started so that they could undertake journeys to destinations such as Ayodhya, Varanasi and Ujjain.
The BJP manifesto also announced the setting up of Anukul Chandra canteens named after a Hindu religious leader with a huge following in Tripura.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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