Manipur issue to be solved; BJP making inroads in Tripura tribal belt, says CM Manik Saha

Tripura CM Saha believes Manipur's troubles will be solved in due course. BJP making inroads into tribal belt, Tipra Motha suffering from own problems. Talks in Tripura have stalled, Kuki leaders in Manipur yet to begin talks.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha who led the BJP to power in Tripura earlier this year believes that the problems in the neighbouring State of Manipur “will be solved in due course”.

In an exclusive interview to PTI, Mr. Saha also claimed the BJP has been making inroads into the tribal belt in the State which till now has been in the iron grip of a tribal outfit Tipra Motha, which he feels is suffering from “its own problems”.

“It [troubles] has happened before in Manipur. I do believe in due course the matter [ethnic clashes] will be solved,” said the 70-year-old Chief Minister.

His own State, which has a long history of tribal insurgency and massacres, earlier this week witnessed demonstrations by Kuki and other tribes in the Jampui hills protesting the ongoing violence in Manipur.

The four-year-old Tipra Motha led by Prodyut Manikya Debbarma, a scion of the former ruling family of the State, and by Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl, a former militant, has been in talks with the Tripura Government and the Centre seeking a tribal-controlled Greater Tipraland as well as more funds and autonomy for the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) which the tribal party controls.

The Kuki and other tribal communities in Manipur where ethnic clashes have raged over the last three months, have also demanded a separate administration, a euphemism for separation or greater autonomy from Manipur as a solution to the race riots that are still surfacing.

However, till now the talks in Tripura have dragged on into a stalemate, while talks with Kuki leaders in Manipur are yet to begin.