Agartala, Nov 27: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Tipra Motha Party (TMP) founder Pradyot Manikya Debbarma on Thursday sought to unite regional parties of the North East in a bid to boost the region’s bargaining power.
Addressing the ‘One North East Unity’ rally here, they claimed that regional parties have little value to the national leaders.
The National People’s Party (NPP) headed by Sangma, and the TMP are allies of the BJP in Meghalaya and Tripura, respectively.
Thursday’s rally was organised around three weeks after leaders from various states of the North East jointly declared on November 4 in New Delhi that they would form a single political entity in the next 45 days to raise issues of the region.
Sangma, Debbarma, former Nagaland minister Daniel Langthasa and several others were part of the proposed entity named ‘One North East’.
Besides Sangma, Debbarma and Langthasa, People’s Party (Assam) leader Ajoy Edwards, Indian Gorkha Janashakti Front founder RK Meghan and several other leaders of the region joined the rally.
“The voice of the North East has not been as strong as expected due to division among the people. We are walking on different paths. The situation today is different compared to what our ancestors used to have,” Sangma said while addressing the rally.
Sangma said that only the strongest minds could bring unity among the people, to which the One North East is working hard.
“We have to come together for a common cause and face whatever challenges come our way. We feel bad when the people of the Northeast face discrimination in mainland India in the name of caste and creed,” the Meghalaya CM said.
“We shall remain united to face challenges in uniting the Northeast. Our roads might have been different earlier, but today we are travellers of the same journey,” he said.
Attacking the national parties, Debbarma alleged that regional parties have little value to them.
“Parties like the Asom Gana Parisad, Shiromani Akali Dal, Shiv Sena and the BJD in Odisha have suffered due to their alliance with national partners. A chief minister from a regional party requires 10 days to meet national leaders,” he claimed.
Debbarma also asserted that the TMP is no longer a lone warrior because the people from Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Sikkim joined the rally.
“Earlier, there was no unity because people were divided on the basis of religion, creed, and political colours such as Khashi, Jaintia, Naga, Tiprasa and Manipuri,” he said.
The TMP founder claimed that he had invited the Indigenous Front of Tripura (IPFT), another BJP ally in the state, to join the rally, but they did not.
“A time will come when the IPFT will also be finished like other regional parties due to lack of unity,” he asserted.
Both the IPFT and the TMP are tribal-based parties.
Debbarma further said his dream of ‘Greater Tipraland’, a slogan which had played a key role in the TMP’s rise in the state’s political landscape during the 2023 Assembly elections, will be achieved sooner or later.
“Today we may not achieve Greater Tipraland, but we will get it five years or ten years later,” he said.
The ‘Greater Tipraland’ idea is not restricted only to Tripura, and seeks to include Tripuris living in Assam, Mizoram, and parts of Bangladesh.
The TMP, which used to be the main opposition party of Tripura, joined the BJP-led government in the state ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. It now has 13 MLAs in the 60-member state assembly and two ministers.
NPP working president Mmhonlumo Kikon and former Manipur assembly speaker Hemochandra Singh also addressed the rally. (PTI)
