Congress to sue BJP-led state government in Tripura

The opposition Congress in Tripura on Friday said that it would file a case against the BJP-led state government's denial to observe the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples (IDWIP).

The mark the IDWIP, the Congress, Tripura Rajya Upajati Ganamukti Parishad (TRUGP), the tribal wing of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, and several other organisations planned to hold rallies, discussions and meetings in different parts of the state on Friday, but the police denied permissions to hold any such event.

Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO Sadar) Dhruba Nath said in a letter that "in view of apprehension of breach of peace on the basis of reliable inputs", permission was not given to hold any open rallies and meetings.

"The Congress would file a suit in the Tripura High Court next week against the rejection of holding rallies and procession on the occasion of the IDWIP," Tripura Pradesh Congress President Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman told the media here.

He said that this was most undemocratic attitude of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government for its denial to observe an international day to uphold the rights and tradition of the indigenous people.

TRUGP President Jitendra Choudhury slammed the state government's move and called it "very undemocratic and anti-tribal.

The United Liberation Front of Asom's (Ulfa) pro-talk faction's General Secretary, Anup Chetia also participated in a rally on the occasion of IDWIP organised by the North East Indigenous People's Forum and Tripura People's Front at Khumulwng, 25 km north of Agartala.

The IDWIP was first proposed by the UN General Assembly in December 1994.

Choudhury said that with an estimated 370 million indigenous people across the world living in 90 countries, August 9 is widely celebrated as the IDWIP to promote their culture, languages and traditions.

"The indigenous people constitute less than five per cent of the world's population, speaking a majority of the world's estimated 7,000 languages and representing 5,000 different cultures," said Chowdhury, who is also the National Coordinator of CPI-M backed Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch.