Rajeshwar Debbarma quits BJP, claims the party didn't fulfill poll promises

Guwahati: Rajeshwar Debbarma, a tribal leader of Tripura has resigned from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for its failure to implement poll promises that has been made during the 2018 Assembly election for the development of the indigenous people of the state.

Debbarma demanded to scrap the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 saying that it posed a threat to the indigenous people of the state of Tripura. He submitted his resignation to the Chief Minister of the state Biplab Kumar Deb.

Submitting his resignation, Debbarma said that he is quite unhappy with the performance of the BJP led NDA government in the state as it is ignoring the indigenous people of the state. He further said that not a single poll pledge has been implemented which the party has made before the Assembly election.

Before joining the BJP before the assembly election, Debbarma was the former MLA of the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT).

Debbarma further reiterated, "The BJP gave a clear assurance in its vision document before the last election that more power would be granted to tribal council which would be named as Tipraland State Council but till now the party has not looked into the matter. He is also unsatisfied with the Union Cabinet's decision that announced that it would upgrade the tribal council into a territorial council as it will not fulfill the aspirations of the indigenous people of the state.

Commenting on the Citizenship bill, Debbarma said that it is anti-tribal and the indigenous people would be marginalized if Hindus from Bangladesh enter the state.

The proposed legislation seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim nationals from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India.

A Tripura State Rifles (TSR) personnel and six members of Twipra Student Federation (TSF), who were protesting against the Bill, were injured when police opened fire and resorted to lathicharge to disperse the gathering on January.

Also Read: Tripura News