‘The existing Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) areas should be given the status of a separate state for the one million indigenous tribal people of Tripura,’ said Narendra Chandra Debbarma, president of the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT).
‘Influx of Bangladeshis into the TTAADC areas has been on but all the major political parties are ignoring the problem of changing demographic pattern of the tribal dominated region,’ IPFT general secretary Rabindra Kishore Debbarma told journalists.
The ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the Congress and other political parties have opposed the demand.
‘The demand for a separate state ahead of the election is nothing but communal,’ said CPI-M spokesman Gautam Das.
Congress spokesman Tapas Dey said: ‘The demand for a separate state will create communal tension in the state where a third of 3.5 million population are tribal.’