Tipra Motha supremo Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma.
Credit: PTI Photo
Agartala: Tipra Motha supremo Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma has threatened to launch a fast-unto-death from February 28 demanding a permanent constitutional solution to the problem of Tiprasa people.
Debbarma said this in a video message on Saturday.
"Our time has gone… When I wake up from bed in the morning, I don't know if I will be able to sleep or not because I am having medical complications including heart ailment. I have been fighting for the Tiprasa people from the heart to give something to my own people. It has caused a serious toll on my personal life as well as the family", he said in the video message.
"In the battle, one side is led by myself who left the palace and is fighting for the poor Tiprasa people while big people are on the other end who gives big 'guarantees' but deliver nothing. For the past year, the Centre has been telling us that something will be achieved for Tiprasa people but nothing so far", he said.
Claiming that the fight for the rights of the Tiprasa people has reached at last stage, the royal scion said he is ready to start fast unto death from February 28 at Hatai Katar in West Tripura district for the future of the Tiprasa people's next generation.
"Even if I die, Tiprasa people will remember that they had a king who had fought a lone battle to secure the future of poor Tiprasa people whose rights were snatched away 70 years ago", he said.
"I will not go down without a fight to ensure the rights of the Tiprasa people so that they can hold their heads high. The entire country will also recall that there was a king who sacrificed his life for the cause of his own people", he said.
The Tipra Motha emerged as the main opposition party in Tripura by winning 13 seats in last year's Assembly elections riding on the popular demand of 'Grater Tipraland'. The Tipra Motha is in dialogue with the Centre for constitutional solutions to the problems of indigenous people.
Party president BK Hrangkhawl has convened a meeting of party functionaries, members of Tipra Motha central working committee, central advisory committee, elected MLAs, MDC (district council) and frontal organizations on Sunday to finalise the plan for Debbarma's fast unto death.