New Delhi [India], September 17 : Calling for efforts to make the "Northeast great again", Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma, Founding Chairman of Tipra Motha Party, has pitched for India getting "Chittagong Hill tracks and our old land back" stating that artificial boundaries have been created and if a political boundary cannot be created immediately, a cultural boundary should be created.
In an interview with ANI, Pradyot Debbarma also referred to the Bangladesh interim government's Chief Advisor Professor Muhammad Yunus' remarks in April about Northeast India being "landlocked" and said there is a need to prove him wrong and "Chittagong port is essential for our economic survivability".
Pradyot Debbarma, who is scion of Tripura's erstwhile royal family, also recalled attempts by Pakistan to create trouble in 1947 and Tripura's signing the Instrument of Merger with India.
"Greater Tipraland is when we all get together and thoko Pakistan and Bangladesh and get Chittagong Hill tracks, get our old land back. These are artificial boundaries which have been created. There are people living, our people living on that side. Don't create a political boundary, create a cultural boundary. What is Europe? You create an East Timor. You create a friendly country. Because our people on the other side, they want it. India will have a friendly country like Bhutan," he said, answering a query on his vision of Greater Tipraland.
"...You think referendum? You think Ukraine where referendum happened? There are no such things as referendum. If the West wants it, it will happen...Was there a referendum to throw out Sheikh Hasina? Regime changes are very clear. It happens. There is a deep state which works. There was a deep state which worked in the northeast from the West to create a certain amount of disturbance in the 60s and 70s. The RAW and the IB will tell you about it also. It is possible. All I'm saying is it is possible," he added.
Pradyot Debbarma referred to some other problems in India's neighbourhood.
"We need strong leadership and we need a leadership which will look at this area, this corridor 20 years down the line. There is something happening in Burma also with the Kachin army...the Arakan army is in a mess. There's a Rohingya problem. There are a lot of things happening in this. All in our neighborhood. And what is happening in Manipur? People coming in from Myanmar. There's an allegation that people are coming in from Myanmar. These are all a part of a larger geopolitics which is happening. We are playing politics. What you need is a firm hand," he said.
"And if Northeast, the only way Northeast can economically survive, otherwise we are, like Muhammad Yunus said, we are Chicken's Neck, we are landlocked. Muhammad Yunus has said this. If we have to economically survive and prove Mr. Muhammad Yunus wrong, that Chittagong hill port is essential for our economic survivability. Not Tripura. the whole of Northeast," he added.
The Tipra Motha Party supremo claimed that Bangladesh is "a failed state and is provoking us"
"Chakmas are Buddhists. Japan, China, the eastern republics will support us. Amongst the Tripuris, Garos, Khasis, considerable amount of Christians, Hindus, so the West will have no problem. And there is a huge difference in Pakistan, which is a nuclear power, and Bangladesh, which is a failed state, which has been created by us. If India is talking about becoming a superpower, and we cannot even tackle Bangladesh, which is provoking us, then I think we should give up the dream. We have to come to the Security Council, we have to do this. Indira Gandhi did it in 1971, when we were not even a superpower...So we should do it now," he said.
"And maybe the monsoon is a factor. It is a monsoon now. Sam Manikshaw said that we cannot go because tanks...India has to do something. And next year there is elections in Bangladesh. You are going to have a non-friendly anti-India government. Whether it is Khalida Zia, Jamaat-e-Islami...Muhammad Yunus. Sheikh Hasina is not coming...," he added, while also referring to Dhaka getting close to Islamabad.
Pradyot Debbarma said policy choices should not be formulated solely based on hope.
"We cannot hope for people to change. Lord Ram did not hope that one day Ravan will return Sita back to Ayodhya. He went and he took what was his. There are wars which have to be fought when they have to be fought...," he said
Greater Tipraland is an ideological demand of the TIPRA Motha, which was initially conceived as an NGO and later transformed into a political party in 2021. TIPRA Motha Party strives to unite the indigenous people of Tripura to collectively fight for their social, cultural, economic, and political rights.