Agartala, April 27 : Tripura royal scion and TIPRA Motha Chief Pradyot Kishore Debbarman on Wednesday reacted sharply over a recent statement of Union Minister of state for empowerment and social justice Pratima Bhoumik accusing the former of ‘instigating communal divide’ in the name of Grater Tipraland. Pradyot labelled counter allegation against Bhoumik and charged that not only the minister, the BJP leaders anticipating the disaster of their party in upcoming assembly poll, have launched malicious campaigns on communal lines forgetting the contribution of the royal family for welfare of both tribal and non-tribal. “Neither my forefathers nor I ever did anything adverse to any community – history is the evidence. My demand for Greater Tipraland is for the indigenous population of all communities. Our fight is against all oppressions and to achieve the socio-economic empowerment of the people. But the statement of Pratima Bhoumik as a responsible central minister is unfortunate and exposes the real face of BJP,” Pradyot said. He challenged Bhoumik for a public debate on the Greater Tipraland issue and asked people to be aware of leaders who want to create fear for ‘fishing in troubled water’. Earlier, Bhoumik on Monday had accused Pradyot of indulging to divide the people by raising the demand of Greater Tipraland issue. She referred to Pradyot, as “so-called Bubagra (king)” and justified that monarchy in India had ended long back and now democracy was established; how Debbarman claimed himself as ‘king’? It’s an utter disrespect to our constitution and democratic spirit of India, Bhoumik attributed. Upset with the statement, Pradyot on his social media handle posted, “Honb’le Madam Bhowmik since you want to challenge this so-called Bubagra then why not do it on a public Debate? Neutral venue one on one and I promise to be respectful.” He further stated, “Greater Tipraland is for the indigenous people of the state cutting across all communities but not against anyone. Those who want to create paranoia amongst communities in Tripura please hear out that we are not against anyone! Beware of these leaders who create fear!” While welcoming BJP’s ally in the government IPFT, Debbarman pointed out that the demands of TIPRA and IPFT are almost the same – why are we not coming together. Is our personal interest bigger than our people? Don’t stay silent and come together for a common cause. I am still waiting, which has further infuriated BJP. Reiterating her stand Bhoumik however, alleged Pradyot Kishore is misleading the people by injecting the Greater Tipraland concept when BJP led government has been making all efforts to develop tribals. Bypassing the welfare initiatives of BJP government for development of tribal areas and people, a sense of hatred professed in the state to create unrest compromising hard-earned peace. Accusing Pradyot of helping the CPI-M, she questioned, “Your father (Kirit Bikram Kishore Manikya) and mother (Maharani Bibhu Kumari Devi) were MPs from Tripura when Congress ruled the country. You were a big leader in the Congress before floating TIPRA Motha. Why are you raising the Greater Tipraland’ demand now? Because you want to bring back CPI-M to power despite the Biplab Kumar Deb government showing outstanding respect to the royal family, especially to your grandfather Bir Bikram Manikya.”
