A ten-member BJP delegation from Tripura, led by state President Rajib Bhattacharjee, held a series of meetings with the central leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah, in Delhi, to discuss the strategies to strengthen the party’s organisational base among the tribals.
A BJP leader said the party leaders held a meeting with Home Minister Shah on Tuesday and are likely to meet other central leaders on Wednesday and Thursday.He said that during the meeting with HM Shah, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, BJP’s Northeast in-charge and National Spokesperson Sambit Patra were also present.
Tripura Industry and Commerce Minister and prominent tribal leader of BJP in Tripura, Santana Chakma, who was also in the ten-member delegation, said that during Wednesday’s meeting with HM Shah the state’s tribal development, as well as the overall development, was discussed.
State BJP General Secretary Bipin Debbarma said that during the meeting with the Union Home Minister, discussions were held on how to further strengthen the party base among the tribals, who constitute one-third of Tripura’s over four million population.
Tripura’s tribal Welfare Minister Bikash Debbarma, former Lok Sabha member Rebati Tripura, MLA Rama Pada Jamatia all tribal leaders were also in the party delegation.A six-member delegation of the BJP’s tribal leaders from Tripura last week held a meeting with the party’s National General Secretary (Organisation) B.L. Santhosh in New Delhi and discussed organisational matters involving tribals.
A BJP leader in Agartala had said that the tribal leaders led by Tribal Welfare Minister Bikash Debbarma discussed the ensuing election to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), polling for which is due early next year.
The 30-member politically important TTAADC has been governed by the BJP’s ally Tipra Motha Party (TMP).The ruling BJP has been trying to strengthen its organisational base in the TTAADC, which has jurisdiction over two-thirds of Tripura's 10,491 sq km area, and is home to over 12,16,000 people, of which around 84 per cent are tribals.
A party leader said to lessen its dependency on tribal-based parties and their allies, the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) and the Tipra Motha Party (TMP), the BJP has intensified efforts to further strengthen its organisational base in tribal-inhabited areas of Tripura.
Tribals play a vital role in electoral politics in Tripura. Earlier this month, the BJP government increased the monthly honorarium from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 for tribal community leaders to woo the tribals’ sentiment.
Amidst the BJP's stepped-up activities to hold organisational programmes in the tribal dominated areas, TMP workers attacked the former's (BJP's) functionaries on two occasions in Khowai and West Tripura districts last month, injuring at least ten.