The Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) is a regional

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 ...

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 ...

, India. It is a member of the

National Democratic Alliance National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a Centre-right politics, centre-right to Right-wing politics, right-wing and Conservatism, conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was foun ...

and

North-East Democratic Alliance The North-East Democratic Alliance or NEDA is a political coalition that was formed on May 24, 2016, by Bharatiya Janata Party. The motive of the new political front was to protect the interest of the people of the region as well as uniting non-Con ...

. The party was merged into the

Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura 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 ...

(INPT) in 2001, However diverged out in 2009. The party is allied with

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

in the

2018 Tripura Legislative Assembly election The 2018 Tripura Legislative Assembly election was held on 18 February for 59 of the state's 60 constituencies. The counting of votes took place on 3 March 2018. With 43.59% of the vote, the BJP secured a majority of seats (36) and subsequently ...

and won 8 seats out of 9 contested seats. The party got 7.5% of the total votes polled. The BJP got 36 seats and with a total of 44 seats the BJP-IPFT coalition have two-thirds majority at the Legislative Assembly.

History

The IPFT made its political breakthrough in the 2000

Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council The Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) is an autonomous district council administering the Tipra-dominated areas of the state of Tripura, India. Its council and assembly are situated in Khumulwng, a town 26 km away ...

(TTAADC) elections. The militant separatist organization

National Liberation Front of Tripura The National Liberation Front of Tripura (abbreviated NLFT) is a Tripuri nationalist militant organisation based in Tripura, India. It has an estimated 550 to 850 members. The NLFT seeks to secede from India and establish an independent Tripu ...

(NLFT) had declared that it would only allow the IPFT to contest the election; in light of a series of assassinations, death threats, and kidnappings, only the Left Front and the IPFT participated. The IPFT ended up winning 17 out of 28 seats, taking a majority on the TTAADC. 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 f ...

(TNV), Tripuri nationalist

militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...

group, supported the IPFT in the 2000 elections. In 2001, after pressure from the NLFT, the TNV merged with the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura. In 2002, the

(INPT) was formed as a merger of the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura and the

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 ...

(TUJS). The newly formed INPT formed an alliance with the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

for the 2003

Tripura Legislative Assembly The Tripura Legislative Assembly or Tripura Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tripura, with 60 Members of the Legislative Assembly. The present Assembly is located in Gurkhabasti. Ujjayanta Palace in Agartala ser ...

election, in which the INPT won six assembly seats. After the 2003 assembly election, 6 District Councilors split away from the INPT to form the

National Socialist Party of Tripura National Socialist Party of Tripura is a political party in the Indian state of Tripura. NSPT was formed when Hirendra Tripura and others broke away from the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura in the summer of 2003. One of the principal l ...

(NSPT), under the leadership of Hirendra Tripura and Budhu Kumar Debbarma. The NSPT formed a government in the TTAADC by forming a coalition with the communist

CPIM The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the nati ...

party. Following this, more INPT leaders defected, leaving to join the Indian National Congress. In 2005, another youth leader and INPT MLA

Animesh Debbarma Animesh Debbarma is an Indian politician and the leader of the Tipra Motha Party. Currently he is the Leader of the Opposition of Tripura Legislative Assembly. He served as Deputy Chief Executive Member of TTAADC but resigned when he won the 20 ...

left the party to form the

National Conference of Tripura The National Conference of Tripura (NCT) was a regional political party of the state of Tripura, India formed in December 2006 at Darjeelingpara in Teliamura. It was formed by Rabindra Kishore Debbarma, formerly of the GMP of the Communist Party ...

(NCT). Before the 2009 Loksabha election, some INPT leaders decided to revive the IPFT party under the leadership of former All India Radio Director N.C Debbarma. The main demand of the IPFT is the formation of "

Tipraland Tipraland is the name of a proposed state in India for the indigenous Tripuri people in the tribal areas of the Tripura state. They demand the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council and some surrounding areas to be made into a separate ...

", a state within the TTAADC, under articles 2 and 3 of the Indian Constitution. The IPFT contested both of the Loksabha seats of Tripura in 2009, but received very few votes. It also contested 21 out of 28 ADC seats in the 2010

election, but only received a total of 2,216 votes. The IPFT also failed to gain a majority in the 2013 Tripura assembly elections, receiving 11,234 votes in 17 contested seats. Following these elections, IPFT leader Patal Kanya Jamatia left and joined the INPT, ultimately leaving again to form the

Tripura Peoples Front Tripura People's Front (TPF) was a regional party in Tripura, 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 mos ...

(TPF). In the 2015 ADC elections, the IPFT contested 27 of the 28 seats. Despite securing the second-highest number of votes at 115,252, the IPFT was unable to gain a single seat. The IPFT split again following these elections, with some members like Retd. TCS officer C.R Debbarma & Rangchak Kwthang leaving to form the

Tipraland State Party Tipraland State Party (TSP) was a regional political party in Tripura, India. TSP beliefs relate to Tripuri nationalism, social reformation, and revolution for the Tripuri nation. The main demand of the party is to elevate Tripura Tribal Areas ...

(TSP). The party was further weakened after some prominent IPFT youth leaders, including David Murasing and Pabitra Jamatia, left the party to join the right-wing

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

(BJP), the party in power nationally in India, on 11 December 2016, but David Murasing ultimately leaving again BJP on 16 August 2017 to form Twipra Dophani Sikla Srwngnai Motha (TDSSM).

Splinter Factions

5 factions emerged out of IPFT: * Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (Tipraha) (IPFT-T) of Aghor Debbarma, Budhu Debbarma, and Binoy Debbarma. * Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (Balaram Debbarma) (IPFT-B) of Balaram Debbarma. *

Tripura People's Front Tripura People's Front (TPF) was a regional party in Tripura, 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 mos ...

(TPF) of Patal Kanya Jamatia. *

(TSP) of Retired TCS officer C.R Debbarma & Sonacharan Debbarma. * Twipra Dophani Sikla Srwngnai Motha (TDSSM) of D Hamkhrai Twipra (David Murasing) also split from IPFT.

References

{{Indian political parties Tripuri nationalism Political parties established in 1997 1997 establishments in Tripura Political parties in India 2001 disestablishments in India Political parties disestablished in 2001 2009 establishments in Tripura Political parties established in 2009

History

Splinter Factions

See also

References