For the last two and half years TIPRA Motha chairman Pradyot Kishore Debbarman using his Royal identity and topping it by high voltage emotional rhetoric was extremely successful in swaying the indigenous people of the state and making the TIPRA Motha a formidable force in the hills. He was also known for giving away off and on to tears in the open and then suddenly within moments blurting out fiery ‘first person’ speeches. But while all these caused expected results among the target audience, his dictatorial leadership – running the party like a family property – and taking decisions impulsively and hastily without consulting his senior party leaders and time and again in open platforms accusing whoever sought to express different opinion -as betrayer- had ultimately backfired. All these accumulated and TIPRA Motha for the last few days was facing serious discontent and simmering resentment at the ways Pradyot Kishore was functioning.
On Tuesday evening Kaloipara under Brahmachhera in Teliamura while addressing a poll rally he all of a sudden announced that he would be leaving politics- “Mera time neta mein, rajniti mein aab khatam. This is my last day after which you will not find me in such a Manch”, and then once again added that a section of ‘Tiprasa betrayed him’.
Pradyot Kishore’s sudden announcement of leaving the politics just 48 hours before the ensuing elections has caused serious confusion and served a severe jolt to the party itself. The announcement has also got a far reaching impact in the state politics and will certainly influence the poll results.
“I decided not to contest in the poll to show that sacrifice also accrues benefits and I wanted to create a spark in you. But my time in politics is over. Now I will build schools, hospitals, roads and create livelihood options for the youths”, Debbarma told his supporters.
In a tweet he gave vent to his frustration saying : ‘I felt alone on top at times..’
“The announcement of Bubagra taking Sanyas is a major jolt for the TIPRA Motha prior to the election. The decision will surely have a serious impact on the election results of the party”, opined several TIPRA activists at Krishnapur in Teliamura, Ampi and other areas, reported the Tripura Times in its Wednesday’s edition.
Several TIPRA Motha leaders admitted that they were not aware of Pradyot Kishore’s decision and now he was also not picking up the telephone calls.
There were several versions as to why he decided to leave politics.
One political observer said : Take what he said with a pinch of salt and don’t attach much importance to it. He had earlier also accused his party leaders and workers of betraying him and thinking about their personal interest. So there is nothing new in it”.
Another added, “evidently, he sought to escape from the mess he created himself inciting emotions among the common indigenous people with an absurd demand of Greater Tipraland. Since he knows he would not be able to face the consequences in future, he just left the show”. “This happens when one seeks to play politics with misplaced emotions- spiced up by communal overtures and rises to the helm of political matters without any political grooming’.
One more political observer pointed out, “There was a design in the Pradyot Kishore Debbarman’s recent activities. First, he dropped the Greater Tipraland demand from the TIPRA Motha manifesto and went for a ‘Constitutional solution’ instead. That was the first escape. Now as there were serious discontent and bickering in the TIPRA Motha itself—which he ran as his personal property- regarding candidate selections as well as on the questions as to which national party should be preferred in case of alliance. While the questions was not properly addressed – he all of a sudden appeared on the dais with Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman and CPM backed indigenous candidate Purushottam Roy Barman in Ramnagar seat. This only intensified discontent in the TIPRA Motha as many of the leaders felt that his appearance in CPM-Congress road show only strengthened Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s allegations that TIPRA Motha had an ‘ under table understanding with the communists”. Pradyot Kishore’s decision not to ally with the BJP was also taken not happily by many TIPRA Motha leaders who felt that if the indigenous people could gain something that could come only from the BJP which is in power in the centre. But Pradyot Kishore simply swayed by his ego took decisions which were not politically matured or qualified by ground realities.
In fact, the simmering resentment intensified with the party’s candidate selections when Pradyot Kishore took decisions singlehandedly.
The most important point that the leaders raised that the dropping of the ‘Greater Tipraland’ demand from the manifesto had put them in a serious spot as the common indigenous people were also raising the questions and doubting the intention of Pradyot Kishore in particular and TIPRA Motha in general. They felt the common indigenous people were led to the garden path with a Greater Tipraland demand as a lollypop—which would never come.
While some political observers maintained that as the voice of dissent was raised within the party Pradyot Kishore could not withstand the pressure and gave away with this announcement.
However, some of the political observers also found something might have happened during Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma’s recent visit to Khowai where he was reported to have met some tribal leaders.
