Baptist church aiding separatists: Tripura MP

A tribal Member of Parliament from India's northeastern Tripura state has alleged that, after the BJP led NDA government came to power under the leadership of Narendra Modi, the separatist movement in the state has again resurfaced.

He blamed the Baptist Church for supporting the separatists.

“Church, mosque or temple should not be utilized for the vested interest of the political parties to achieve political goal. A microscopic section of the Baptist churches are backing the separatists and we are upset with that,” accused Jitendra Chowdhury, Tripura’s former Forest Minister and now the CPI(M)'s chief whip in Lok Sabha.

According to him, the IPFT (Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura), a local tribal party, is using the platform of churches to spread demand for a separate tribal land in Tripura.

The senior tribal leader was addressing a press conference of the Tripura Rajaya Upajati Ganamukti Parishad, a tribal wing of the ruling CPIM along with other senior members at the party office here.

“What we are saying is that church leaders should come forward and restrain them (IPFT) from utilising the church platform,” said Chowdhury.

He said though tribal separatism was not new to the state. Tripura had belatedly become the most peaceful state in the region. Now with a new government in Delhi led by non-secular forces, separatism was resurfacing in Tripura.

The Leftist leader alleged that after BJP came to power in Delhi, separatist’s forces are again very active in Tripura and are spreading ethno- communal hatred as the polls to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) draws near.