• Source: Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl

Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl (born 25 January 1946) is the current president of The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance or TIPRA. He was the leader of the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra, a political party based in the Indian state of Tripura.




Early life






= Marriage and family

=
After finishing school in Shillong, Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl married Linda Hrangkhawl. The couple had a son Borkung Hrangkhawl. 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). This marks his participation in the demand of separate statehood for the Indigenous Tiprasa people.




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.
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.
In 1988 TNV signed a peace treaty, and TNV was converted into a political party.
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). He oversaw the implementation of the agreement like the reservervation of three more seats for the Indigenous people in Tripura Assembly.

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.




Further reading


Rites of Passage: Border Corssisngs, Imagined Homelands, India's East and Bangladesh by Sanjoy Hazarika
Along the Red River By Sabita Goswami
Peace Accords in Northeast India: Journey Over Milestones by Swarna Rajagopalam
Lost Opportunities: 50 Years of Insurgency in the North-east and India's Response by S.P. Sinha
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




References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl
• Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra
• Tripura National Volunteers
• Borkung Hrangkhawl
• Hmar people
• Tipra Motha Party
• Insurgency in Tripura
• 2021 Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council election
• Nagendra Jamatia
• 2013 Tripura Legislative Assembly election