Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura
A delegation of BJP’s Tripura ally Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) met with the union Home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi with a five-point charter of demands on Thursday, July 23.
The issue of separate statehood and special recruitment drive in ADC were among them.
BJP’s ally IPFT in Tripura visit comes shortly after the party faced defeat at the recently concluded ADC election against the newly formed TIPRA Motha which won the majority.
A senior IPFT leader said, “Our main motive is to press for the 125th constitutional amendment Bill which is pending for a long time. This Bill empowers the sixth schedule areas with more autonomy and if the Centre passes the Bill in the ongoing session, it will be a major boon for Tripura as well as the entire North East”. Apart from that, the IPFT leaders would also raise the TTAADC delimitation.
“The Govt. of Tripura has already recommended for inclusion of Kokborok in 8th Schedule to the constitution and forwarded to the Govt. of India for further course of action,” he further informed.
He also stressed that both IPFT and the ST population of the State are seeking a Special Recruitment Drive to fill the existing vacancies (Approximately 20000.) reserved for ST. This would create employment opportunities for the unemployed ST youths (Approximately 4 Lakh) and ensure proper representation in state government services.
“Our party is anxiously awaiting the report and recommendation of the High-Power Modality Committee as constituted by MHA, in 2018 itself on the core issue of Socio-Economic Development, Linguistic and Cultural aspects, etc. of the indigenous people of Tripura State,” the leader said.
The delegation comprised of four leaders that included IPFT Forest Minister Mevar Kumar Jamatia, MLA Prasanta Debbarma, MLA Jiten Debbarma, and MLA Dhananjoy Tripura.
