At a time when the coronavirus cases are increasing, tribal areas of Tripura are seeing regular political activities.

This is due to speculation that the deferred Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) polls will take place by the end of this year.

However, this time the ADC polls will be different from past ones. One of the main reasons is the changed political scenario in the state after the 2018 assembly elections.

Another is the expected entry of a new regional party under the leadership of royal scion Pradyot Deb Barman, who was the state president of the Congress before quitting the national party over differences on NRC.

Regional parties are not new in Tripura. It has seen many such parties and most of the parties after a period of influence have either ceased to exist or became politically non-significant. Presently, the regional party that is strong in the state is the Indigenous People’s Front of Twipra (IPFT) led by NC Debbarma, the minister for Revenue and Fishery in the Biplab Deb-led BJP government.

The other main regional party is the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT) led by former minister Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhwal. Over the last years, the party has lost its base and its relevance in the state. INPT and some small tribal parties are expected to join Pradyot Deb Barman’s new political front.

Pradyot has his own ambitions. He aspires to become the chief minister of the state. However, the problem is that he hasn’t been able to do his own style of politics. The Congress is opposed to implementation of NRC in the country but Pradyot supports it strongly in the state. As a result, he had to quit the Congress last year.

Importantly, his parents — Kirit Bikram Kishore Deb Barman, the last king of Tripura, and Bibhukumari Devi — were once Lok Sabha MPs elected on tickets of the Congress. So, it was quite natural for Pradyot to associate with the Congress party. Although he quit the party, he didn’t give up his ambitions.

There were reports of even the BJP luring him. But he didn’t join the saffron party citing ideological differences. Whether the reason was really related to any ideological issue is difficult to say. Chief Minister Biplab Deb is relatively young and the deputy chief minister Jishnu Dev Varma himself belongs to the royal family of Tripura.

Notably, since the 2018 assembly polls, BJP has been able to dominate the political picture of the state but there is a visible vacuum in the opposition space even though lately the CPM, after being inactive since its disastrous defeat in 2018 polls, has woken up and is trying to fill the space with some success. Nevertheless, Pradyot is also trying to fill this vacuum.

More importantly, in tribal areas, BJP too has not found as much success in spreading its wings as it has seen in the plains, which are mostly dominated by the majority Bengalis. The main reason is its own ally — IPFT. Since 2018, there have been regular clashes between the supporters of the two allies. IPFT’s main agenda has been a separate Twipraland — comprising the TTAADC, which accounts for two-thirds of the area of the state.

However, IPFT hasn’t been able to implement its 2018 poll promise. It has been accused of misleading tribal youth on the basis of a nonsensical demand like Twipraland. IPFT, which helped BJP to defeat the CPM-led Left Front in 2018, remains a major force in the tribal areas and is popular among a section of tribal youth. However, one must not forget that IPFT performed poorly during the last Lok Sabha elections where BJP swept the two seats while Congress surprisingly came second by pushing the CPM to third place.

Congress showed an increase of almost 10 per cent votes and this was the result of the efforts made by Pradyot — who was then the state party president. It clearly shows that he has support among the people of the state, particularly among the tribals, who account for 31 per cent of the population.

The Congress party, which lags behind others in political activities in the tribal areas, is trying to work out a deal with Pradyot, who still has a soft corner for the party.

Also, it will be a plus point for Pradyot to get support from Congress. Whether Pradyot’s new regional party will be successful in state politics, only time will tell. The writer is a Tripura based commentator on politics, religion, culture and philosophy.