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NEW DELHI/AGARTALA — Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday that the Centre has resolved a large number of problems in the northeastern states and made the region violence and insurgency-free, while over 10,000 militants from various outfits have shunned the path of violence and surrendered before the government.
Addressing the tripartite meeting between the Home Ministry, Tripura government and leaders of the opposition Tipra Motha Party (TMP) in the national capital, the Home Minister said that various accords were signed with many militant outfits in the northeast to restore peace and accelerate all-round development and welfare of the region.
The accords signed with various militant outfits and other organisations include the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), Bodo, National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), Dimasa, Karbi, Adibasi, and Reang tribals.
Besides, inter-state border problems in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have also been resolved, he said.
The Home Minister said that with the signing of the accords and resolution of the problems, development in the northeastern region has accelerated.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a developed India would also develop the northeast region and Tripura. The Government of India is always sincere in upholding the rights of the tribals and the people of the northeast,” Shah said.
The Home Minister also thanked the erstwhile kings of Tripura for settling the people who migrated from then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.
The tripartite agreement was signed on Saturday in Delhi between the Centre, Tripura government and the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) to provide more empowerment to the state’s tribals, who constitute one-third of Tripura’s four-million population.
Meanwhile, the TMP, which has been demanding 'Greater Tipraland' or a separate state for the tribals under Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution, is continuing with its demonstrations since February 28 at Hatoi Katar (Baramura) on National Highway-8, the lifeline of Tripura.
The TMP is demanding further strengthening of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), protection of the constitutional rights of the tribals, direct funding to the tribal autonomous body, and further modification of the tribals’ land rights.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, Tribal Welfare Minister Bikash Debbarma, Tribal Welfare (TRP and PTG) Minister and Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) leader Sukla Charan Noatia, senior TMP leader Animesh Debbarma, TTAADC Chairman Jagadhish Debbarma, TMP President Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl and other leaders went to Delhi on Friday night to attend the meeting.
The IPFT, a tribal-based party, is an ally of the ruling BJP in Tripura.
TMP supremo and former royal scion Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman and other party leaders have been camping in Delhi since February 28.
Deb Barman had earlier claimed that he was called by the Central government to Delhi to discuss their demands.
“What we are asking is as per the Constitution. We want the government to fulfil the tribals' constitutional and land rights-related issues,” the TMP chief had told the media.
Former Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, Chief Secretary J.K. Sinha and senior MHA officials also attended the tripartite meeting in Delhi.
Ever since the TMP wrested power in the politically-important TTAADC in April 2021, the party has intensified its agitation in support of the ‘Greater Tipraland’ demand, which has been strongly opposed by the ruling BJP, the opposition Left Front, Congress, Trinamool Congress and other parties.
The TTAADC, which has a jurisdiction over two-third of Tripura's 10,491 sq km area, and is home to over 12,16,000 people, of which around 84 per cent are tribals, is, in terms of its political significance, the second most important constitutional body after the Tripura Assembly.
The ruling BJP often tries to take TMP’s support to gain tribal votes, which constitute one-third of the state’s 28.57 lakh voters.