Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl

Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl is the current president of The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance or TIPRA.[1] He was the leader of the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra, a political party based in the Indian state of Tripura.

Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl
President of TIPRA, Chairman of TTAADC Advisory Committee
Assumed office
2021
Member of Legislative Assembly
In office
1998–2013
ConstituencyKulai
Preceded byHasmai Reang
Succeeded byDiba Chandra Hrangkhawl
Personal details
Born
Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl

(1946-12-25) 25 December 1946
Tripura, India
Political partyTipraHa Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance
SpouseLinda Hrangkhawl
ChildrenBorkung Hrangkhawl
Residence(s)EM Lane, Capital Khumulwng, Tripura
Committees
  • Chairman, Advisory of Administrative Reform Committee, TTAADC Government
  • Business Advisory Committee, Tripura Legislative Assembly (2008-2009)

Early life

Marriage and family

After finishing school in Shillong, Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl married Linda Hrangkhawl. The couple had a son Borkung Hrangkhawl.[2] Borkung is now a popular singer-songwriter who is celebrated across Northeast India.

I don't deny that Linda (his wife) influenced my decision to surrender...I have no hesitation to admit that she alone was 25 per cent responsible for this (the Tripura) accord.

Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl, TNV chief, in The Week

Greater Tipraland Movement

On June 7, 2021, The INPT merged with TIPRA for the cause of Greater Tipraland Demand understand the leadership of Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl.

Later on, in 11 June 2021, Hrangkhawl was elected as the president of the TipraHa Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA).[3] This marks his participation in the demand of separate statehood for the Indigenous Tiprasa people.[4][5]

Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl addressing a mass gathering for Greater Tipraland at Astabal Ground, Agartala, Tripura on November 12, 2022.

Tripuri Nationalism leadership between 1978–1988

Hrangkhawl began his political career as an organising secretary in the ethno-nationalist Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti. He became the leader of the Tripuri Sena, the militant wing of TUJS. Tripuri Sena was formed following the Left Front victory in 1977, and it engaged in physical combat against the left. Tripuri Sena soon evolved into the Tripura National Volunteers.[6]

For ten years, 1978–1988, Hrangkhawl led an armed struggle as the supremo of the TNV, which sought to expel the Bengali majority from Tripura. TNV soon became infamous for their campaign of ethnic cleansing in the rural areas of Tripura. In 1983 he expressed the political ambitions of TNV in the following words in a letter to the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi:

Armed insurgency was necessary to reach your heart. Either you deport all foreign nationals who infiltrated into Tripura after 15 October 1947 or settle them anywhere in India other than Tripura... We demand a free Tripura.[7]

In 1988 TNV signed a peace treaty, and TNV was converted into a political party.[8]

TNV later merged with INPT.

Political career

After signing the TNV Accord in 1988, Bijoy Hrangkhawl joined mainstream politics with The Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT).[9] He oversaw the implementation of the agreement like the reservervation of three more seats for the Indigenous people in Tripura Assembly.

Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhwal inaugurating the photo exhibition stall on Bharat Nirman and Development initiative in North East, organised by DAVP, at Manughat, Dhalai district, Tripura.

In 1998 Tripura Assembly Election, Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl contested from Kulai constituency and became a Member of Legislative Assembly. He contested the state election as an Independent candidate.

Hrangkhawl went on to contest two more election which is 2003 and 2008 Tripura Assembly Election and winning both of these elections.[10]

Further reading
  • Rites of Passage: Border Corssisngs, Imagined Homelands, India's East and Bangladesh by Sanjoy Hazarika[11]
  • Along the Red River By Sabita Goswami[12]
  • Peace Accords in Northeast India: Journey Over Milestones by Swarna Rajagopalam[13]
  • Lost Opportunities: 50 Years of Insurgency in the North-east and India's Response by S.P. Sinha[14]
  • Crossing Over: Demographic change in one small state is used as a red flag in its giant neighbour, Assam. But the history of Tripura and its people is much more than that By Sanskrita Bharadwaj[15]

References
  1. Web Desk, Outlook (14 February 2023). "Tripura Elections: Meet Bijoy Hrangkhawl, The Tipra Motha Chief Who Gave Up Gun To Be Kingmaker In Democracy". OutlookIndia.com. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  2. Khurana, Suanshu (12 July 2013). "An Octave Higher". The Indian Express. Retrieved 20 April 2023. He is the son of a leader of the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT). Ethnic strife and issues in the state was what Hrangkhawl grew up with.
  3. "TIPRA selects Bijoy Hrangkhawl as state President". indigenousherald.com. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  4. "INPT merges with TIPRA for the interest of Tiprasa people". India Today NE. 7 May 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  5. "Tripura: INPT announces merger with Pradyot Kishore's TIPRA, to work for 'Greater Tipraland'". The Indian Express. 6 May 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  6. "The rise and fall of glorious Cachari kingdom". thesangaiexpress.com. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  7. Strategy of terror Archived 16 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Hazarika, Sanjoy; Times, Special To the New York (13 August 1988). "India and Tribal Guerrillas Agree to Halt 8-Year Fight". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  9. "How Tripura won the 'war' against AFSPA". dailyo.in. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  10. "Tripura's Congress chief, INPT President file nominations". MorungExpress. 30 January 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  11. Hazarika, Sanjoy (2000). Rites of passage : border crossings, imagined homelands, India's East and Bangladesh. New Delhi: Penguin Books. p. 240. ISBN 978-93-5118-130-9. OCLC 604663871.
  12. Goswami, Sabita (2013). Along the red river. Triveni Goswami Mathur. New Delhi. ISBN 978-93-81017-01-2. OCLC 830956415.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. Rajagopalan, Swarna (2008). Peace accords in Northeast India : journey over milestones. East-West Center Washington. Washington, DC: East-West Center Washington. ISBN 9781932728743. OCLC 682174384.
  14. Sinha, S. P., Brigadier (2007). Lost opportunities : 50 years of insurgency in the North-east and India's response. New Delhi: Lancer Publishers & Distributors. pp. 137–146. ISBN 978-81-7062-162-1. OCLC 182969662.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. "Crossing Over". Fifty Two (52). Retrieved 19 April 2023.
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