Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl is the current president of

The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance The Tipra Motha Party (TMP), also known as the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance, is a regional political party and previously a social organization in Tripura, India. The TIPRA is led by Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barma. It is c ...

or TIPRA. He was the leader of the

Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra The Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (abbr. INPT) was a political party in the Indian state of Tripura. Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl was the President of the party. It merged with the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Alliance (TIPRA) party on 11 ...

, a political party based in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n state of

Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the east a ...

Early life

Marriage and family

After finishing school in Shillong, Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl married Linda Hrangkhawl. The couple had a son Borkung Hrangkhawl. Borkung is now a popular singer-songwriter who is celebrated across Northeast India. :''I don't deny that Linda (his wife) influenced my decision to surrender...I have no hesitation to admit that she alone was 25 per cent responsible for this (the Tripura) accord.'' Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl, ''TNV chief, in The Week''

Greater Tipraland Movement

On June 7, 2021, The INPT merged with TIPRA for the cause of Greater Tipraland Demand understand the leadership of Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl. Later on, in 11 June 2021, Hrangkhawl was elected as the president of the TipraHa Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA). This marks his participation in the demand of separate statehood for the Indigenous Tiprasa people. Bijoy_Kumar_Hrangkhawl_Speech

Tripuri Nationalism leadership between 1978–1988

Hrangkhawl began his political career as an organising secretary in the ethno-nationalist

Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti ("Tripura Tribal Youth Association") was a political party in the Indian state of Tripura from 1977–2001. During 1988-93, the Indian National Congress formed a coalition government with the TUJS at the Tripura Legisl ...

. He became the leader of the Tripuri Sena, the militant wing of TUJS. Tripuri Sena was formed following the Left Front victory in 1977, and it engaged in physical combat against the left. Tripuri Sena soon evolved into the

Tripura National Volunteers Tripura National Volunteers (also Tribal National Volunteers or Tripura National Volunteer Force) was a Tripuri nationalist militant group in the Tripura region of India that launched an armed struggle in the early 1980s to separate Tripura fr ...

. For ten years, 1978–1988, Hrangkhawl led an armed struggle as the supremo of the TNV, which sought to expel the

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

majority from Tripura. TNV soon became infamous for their campaign of

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal, extermination, deportation or population transfer ...

in the rural areas of Tripura. In 1983 he expressed the political ambitions of TNV in the following words in a letter to the then Prime Minister,

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

: :''Armed insurgency was necessary to reach your heart. Either you deport all foreign nationals who infiltrated into Tripura after 15 October 1947 or settle them anywhere in India other than Tripura... We demand a free Tripura.'' In 1988 TNV signed a peace treaty, and TNV was converted into a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

. TNV later merged with INPT.

Political career

After signing the TNV Accord in 1988, Bijoy Hrangkhawl joined mainstream politics with The Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT). He oversaw the implementation of the agreement like the reservervation of three more seats for the Indigenous people in Tripura Assembly. In 1998 Tripura Assembly Election, Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl contested from Kulai constituency and became a Member of Legislative Assembly. He contested the state election as an Independent candidate. Hrangkhawl went on to contest two more election which is 2003 and 2008 Tripura Assembly Election and winning both of these elections.

References