Debbarma returns as Minister in Manik Saha’s Cabinet

IPFT’s octogenarian chief Narendra Chandra Debbarma, who hasn’t been keeping well over the past year, fights back to retain his hold on Tripura’s politics

Narendra Chandra Debbarma, president of the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT), the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) collation partner, caught everyone’s attention at his oath-taking as a Cabinet Minister here on Monday. The octogenarian leader, who recently fought off his baiters and retained his position in the party, held a magnifying glass in one hand to read the paper with the oath of allegiance in the other.

Mr. Debbarma, who hasn’t been keeping well over the past year and has spent a few months in hospital, remains at the epicentre of tribal politics despite his frail health.

In Chief Minister Manik Saha new Cabinet, he not only ensured his place, but also prevailed on the BJP leadership to drop his sworn opponent, Mevar Kumar Jamatia, who held the important Forest and Tribal Welfare portfolios in the previous Biplab Kumar Deb council. Mr. Deb resigned, making way for Dr. Saha’s chief ministership.

Mr. Jamatia had pulled off a coup by replacing Mr. Debbarma as IPFT president last month. But the veteran leader fought back and regained the post in an extraordinary meeting of the party's State executive committee recently.

Mr. Debbarma had Mr. Jamatia replaced by his [Mr. Debbarma’s] close aide Prem Kumar Reang in the new Council of Ministers. Mr. Reang was sworn-in as the Council’s second IPFT Minister.

Mr. Debbarma alleged that Mr. Jamatia had hatched a conspiracy to merge the IPFT with the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA), headed by the State’s royal scion, Pradyot Kishore Debbarman. “We will not abolish the party (IPFT) nor will we leave the alliance with the BJP,” he confirmed on Monday.

The former Director of All India Radio’s Agartala station did not join electoral politics till he retired from government service, but remained relevant in the State’s tribal politics for over 50 years as an ideologue and in advisory roles.