New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) this week expelled Patal Kanya Jamatia, its vice president in Tripura, from primary membership of the party a day after she floated a new political outfit.

A longtime detractor of BJP ally TIPRA Motha, Jamatia claimed to ThePrint that Motha founder and chief Pradyot Debbarma was micromanaging the party’s Tripura unit and virtually running the show owing to his equation with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections this year, the BJP had served Jamatia a show-cause notice for accusing Debbarma of “spreading hatred” between tribals and non-tribals in the state.

The final straw, however, was her announcement Monday that she had decided to float a new political outfit, the Tripura People’s Socialist Party (TPSP), which she said would act as an extension of her NGO.

On Tuesday, the BJP issued a press statement saying Jamatia had been “expelled from primary membership of the party due to anti-party activities and for violating party discipline”. Citing a notice signed by Tripura BJP general secretary Amit Rakshit at the direction of state BJP president Rajiv Bhattacharjee, the statement added that Jamatia’s expulsion was effective immediately.

Asked about the expulsion, Bhattacharjee said Jamatia’s decision to float a new political outfit while holding a key position in the BJP took him by surprise. “We decided to expel her only after discussing it. We have proper forums for discussions before any move is considered.”

Motha leader Brishaketu Debbarma, a junior minister in the Manik Saha-led BJP government in the state, defended his party’s stance by asserting that Motha has no stake in the affairs of its ally BJP.

“Ours is a regional party and we can’t influence decision-making within the BJP. It is BJP’s internal matter. She aims to gain traction in the tribal belt to regain lost ground,” he told ThePrint.

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‘Tripura BJP taking orders’: Jamatia

Jamatia started her career as a tribal rights activist. In 2018, she filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking it to identify those who arrived in Tripura after 19 July 1948, as illegal immigrants. She also sought deletion of their names from voter lists, and subsequent deportation.

Citing concerns over tribals becoming a minority in Tripura owing to the alleged influx of ‘illegal migrants’ into the state, Jamatia also led protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

She was inducted into the BJP in March 2022 with much fanfare, nearly a year before assembly elections, in the presence of the then-chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb and senior state BJP leaders.

At the time, she had merged the political outfit she formed in June 2014, Tripura People’s Front (TPF), with the BJP. 

Despite her loss from Ampinagar, a reserved seat, in the 2023 assembly elections, Jamatia was made chairperson of the Tripura Rehabilitation Plantation Corporation Limited (TRPCL) last year.

She told ThePrint, “When I announced the formation of a political platform, it was understood that it would work under the BJP. But no BJP leader contacted me, nobody in the party complained about it.”

“How can they expel a vice president without giving any explanation of the anti-party activity they have cited as a reason for doing so?”

“I think the state BJP is taking orders from someone else,” she alleged.

She also claimed that the Tripura BJP is “playing into the hands of TIPRA Motha chief Pradyot Debbarma”.

“Two Motha leaders, Animesh Debbarma and Brishaketu Debbarma, contested on a BJP symbol and became ministers in the state government. His (Pradyot’s) sister Kriti Singh Debbarma was elected Member of Parliament from Tripura East, whose certificate was fake but no one raised any questions,” said Jamatia.

She added that Pradyot too is running his own party but still has members in the state BJP government. 

“Why is the BJP objecting to my activities when I declared that my NGO’s political arm would work under the BJP? This shows some in the BJP are working for Motha since Pradyot has good chemistry with Amit Shah. Nobody has the guts to question Motha on corruption,” she said.

“Motha is not addressing the rights of tribals, but the BJP too has closed its eyes to corruption,” Jamatia added.

‘Jamatia was feeling cornered’

Tripura BJP chief spokesperson Subrata Chakraborty told ThePrint, “She (Jamatia) might be planning to gain a foothold in the tribal belt and that is why she decided to form another party but you can’t continue in the BJP after having launched another front or party.”

Shedding more light on the developments, a Tripura BJP vice president told ThePrint on condition of anonymity that the political outfit Jamatia floated is not the real issue.

“She was feeling cornered ever since the BJP allied with TIPRA Motha under which two party leaders were inducted as ministers into the state cabinet. BJP also gave a Lok Sabha seat to Pradyot’s elder sister to protect its interests in the tribal belt.”

The BJP functionary added that when Jamatia was inducted, the BJP was not sure of an alliance with TIPRA Motha and she was seen as a “force” that could take on the Debbarma-led party. “But once the alliance was finalised, the BJP kept Pradyot in good humour.”

The real fight, the BJP leader added, is for a “stake in tribal politics”.

“Motha doesn’t want any other party to enter its stronghold and the BJP wants to keep them happy. Jamatia, a fierce critic of Motha, is trying to consolidate the anti-Motha vote by floating a new outfit.”

The TPF and Motha had jointly fielded candidates for the 2021 Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council elections, but differences led to the alliance unravelling before voting day.

Explaining the BJP-Motha alliance, a BJP leader and former state minister told ThePrint, “When the BJP was approaching Pradyot for an alliance for the autonomous body elections in 2021, he did not join hands with the BJP since his primary aim at the time was to finish off the IPFT from the tribal belt. The BJP contested the polls in an alliance with IPFT and performed well but the IPFT was finished.”

“Before the assembly elections, he (Pradyot) insisted that he would not ally with the BJP and would continue his fight for Greater Tipraland but later realised that it was suitable for him to join hands with the BJP to protect his turf. He is popular in that belt and doesn’t want the BJP to enter his stronghold. Jamatia opposed that,” said the BJP leader who did not wish to be named.

While the BJP returned to power in Tripura after the assembly elections, political analysts said it would have been difficult for the party to cross the majority mark of 31 seats had the Motha not divided the anti-incumbency vote in the 20 seats reserved for tribals.

With 32 seats, four fewer than its 2018 tally, the BJP barely crossed the majority mark. Motha, which emerged as the strongest force in the 2021 Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council elections, came in second with its candidates winning 13 assembly seats.

BJP ally Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) saw its seat share drop to one from eight in 2018.

(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)

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