The entrance to the Ujjayanta Palace, the erstwhile abode of the Manikya dynasty named by Rabindranath Tagore, is flanked by the statues of Khudiram Bose and Surya Sen, Bengali revolutionaries who challenged British Raj. Behind the palace, which was built in 1901, is a stadium, the usual venue for mega political rallies in Agartala, named after Swami Vivekananda, the late 19th-century Bengali Hindu spiritual leader and philosopher. "These impositions are aimed at erasing our history. Not just landmarks, but even the names of hills and rivers have been renamed in Bengali. Do we even belong here anymore?" asks Dusanta Debbarma, a 20-year-old student pursuing graduation at a private college in the city. Cuts in Ajit Debbarma, Dusanta's friend, "The influx of migrants has not just resulted in us losing our land but our culture and language as well. This cannot go on." With less than 48 hours to go for the Assembly elections, as the campaign dust settles in Tripura, deep-rooted anxieties related to cultural imposition, coupled with underdevelopment in the hills, have set the stage for a three-cornered fight in the state involving the ruling BJP, the CPI(M)-Congress, and the tribal TIPRA Motha. In the 60-member Tripura Assembly, 20 seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes. Addressing a rally at the Charilam (ST) constituency during the day, TIPRA Motha chief and royal scion Pradyot Debbarma urged people to put up "one last fight" for their rights. "This is my last ever political speech. I am ending my political career here. But I will not retire until I get your demand (for Greater Tipraland) fulfilled. But I will not make speeches and seek votes anymore," said Debbarma, leaving many in the crowd in tears. Dhananjoy Tripura, who runs a grocery shop on the highway that connects Agartala to the southern town of Udaipur, says people in his village have supported both the BJP and CPI(M) in the past, but “there is no reason for us to support these parties anymore”. “The TIPRA Motha deserves a chance because our bubagra (King or Pradyot Debbarma) will not compromise," he says. While the promise of a separate ethnic homeland appears to have fired up the imagination of a large section of the tribals and rallied them behind the Motha, the BJP, after its attempts to stitch an alliance with the Motha failed, dismissed the idea as impractical and, in the last stretch, went after the party. In his speech, Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused Debbarma of working with the Communists. With all parties wary of extending the written guarantee that the Mothra was seeking on Greater Tipraland, the party too towards the end modified its stand. On Monday, Debbarma told The Indian Express in an interview that Greater Tipraland need not be a separate state, and that a "political separation" could be achieved even without a territorial break up. A visit to the areas falling under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) – which geographically covers 70% of the state - shows there are good reasons behind the modified position. In the tribal-dominated Bagma constituency, TIPRA Motha supporter Sukumar Debbarma asserts that Greater Tipraland will not lead to separation from Tripura. But what does it stand for then? "It will help us get justice. We have been discriminated against all these years,” said the farmer, insisting: “We are not against the Bengalis or any other community.” He adds that the TTAADC, which was captured by the Motha in 2021, in the first hint of its rise, enjoys very little autonomy currently. Debbarma told The Indian Express that more powers is what the tribal council needs. Debbarma has also hinted that if there is a "fractured mandate" come March 2, the counting day, he could reach out to other parties, specifically the Left Front-Congress combine. Wrapping up the CPI(M)'s campaign Tuesday, its state president Jiten Choudhary – seen as the likely CM should the combine win, also because no Congress stalwart showed up to share the Left burden - said Tuesday that there was "no problem" in such an arrangement. If the Opposition camp went to bed with hope, the BJP dropped enough clues that it saw the real danger as the Motha. The party's consistent message was that the tribal party's rise was "more hype than substance", even as it unveiled a slew of promises for the tribals in its manifesto. A BJP leader said: "Tripura has 19 ethnic communities. The Debbarman community is firmly behind the TIPRA Motha, but there are many like the Tripuris, Jamatias, who are not as enthused. We have strong leaders like our MP Rebati Tripura, behind whom Tripuris are rallying.” The BJP leader added that the Motha could only capture the TTAADC due to a "miscalculation" on their part. "We gave far too many seats to the IPFT. The BJP contested 12 seats and won 10, and an Independent backed by us also won," he pointed out. On Tuesday, TIPRA Motha and BJP workers clashed near the site of the ground where Debbarma's rally was held, leaving at least four people injured.
