Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma will grace the Mega Rally of the Tipraha Indigenous Peoples Regional Alliance (TIPRA) to be held on October 14 at Khumulwng, headquarters of the tribal autonomous district council, near here. Mr. Sangma will be accompanied by a Minister of his cabinet.
The Founder of TIPRA, Pradyot Kishore Manikya, on Monday informed that leaders of different regional parties will attend the rally to support contentious demand for Greater Tipraland or a separate State for the indigenous people who count 33% in Tripura and has presence in some districts of Mizoram, Assam and neighbouring Bangladesh.
Pradyot Kishore announced the party’s resolution over calling the rally at the Syndicate Ground at Khumulwng, 12 km east of Agartala immediately after observing a 12-hour general strike in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) areas on September 30. The strike was peaceful and evoked a huge response.
TTAADC has limited administrative authority over the State’s three fourth land and covers one third of State’s population. Riding on Greater Tipraland demand, TIPRA managed to win elections in TTAADC in 2021 and became the State’s main opposition party in February 2023 assembly elections.
It is not clear if Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma will be attending the rally as Chief Minister or as current head of the National People’s Party (NPP) which was founded by his father late PA Sangma. NPP is the partner of the BJP which is opposed to the Greater Tipraland demand.
