Tipra Motha president and former MLA Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl has been admitted to a private hospital in Agartala with multiple health complications. Tripura Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha on Wednesday (March 5, 2025) visited the veteran leader and inquired about his health.
The Chief Minister also took to his social media page to wish him a swift and complete recovery, stating, “My thoughts and prayers are with him during this challenging time.” Leaders from across the political spectrum have also visited the 79-year-old leader.
Mr. Hrangkhawl was the president of TNV (Tripura National Volunteers), which led a decade-long insurgency until it signed a tripartite peace accord in August 1988 in the presence of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The party later transformed into a political party and merged with INPT in 2001. Mr. Hrangkhawl was made President of INPT and became an MLA from the Ambassa constituency the following year.
He was reelected from the same constituency in two successive assembly elections. In 2021, INPT and other tribal political parties and social groups merged with TIPRA Motha to jointly fight for Greater Tripura or a separate extended state for the indigenous tribes of Tripura.
Mr. Hrangkhawl, one of the most senior and powerful indigenous leaders, has held the post of President of TNV, INPT and TIPRA Motha – current ruling party of the Tripura tribal autonomous district council and an alliance partner of the BJP-led government.
Rajeshwar Debbarma, former MLA and senior TIPRA Motha functionary, protested reports in a section of the media describing Mr. Hrangkhawl as a “former extremist leader”. “This would be a grave injustice to a visionary leader who spent his life working to protect the rights, dignity and identity of the indigenous people,” Mr. Debbarma said in a statement on Wednesday.
The indigenous population, who were in the majority before the erstwhile princely state merged with India in 1949, accounted for 33% in the last census.
