Racial discrimination, says Tripura tribal neta, quits BJP

GUWAHATI: A top tribal leader of BJP in Tripura, Rajeshwar Debbarma, resigned from the party in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. He tendered his resignation on Monday.
Debbarma, who was earlier with the Tipraha faction of the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), had joined BJP before the Tripura assembly election last year. In his resignation letter to CM and Tripura BJP president Biplab Kumar Deb, he wrote, “It has been observed...that the BJP-led NDA government has clearly shown its real face of racial discrimination and ill attitude towards the indigenous people of Tripura... by ... passing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016... in the Lok Sabha... despite the mass protest movement against the Bill.”
He also registered his protest against police firing on students when they were agitating against the Bill at Madhab Bari in Jirania West Tripura on January 8, the day the Bill was passed in Lok Sabha.
“Besides, (I am) quite unhappy with the performance of the present government of Tripura led by your leadership for failing to protect the life and liberty of the indigenous people of Tripura and also to fulfil the aspirations of the indigenous people of Tripura as a whole. And the present coalition government of Tripura led by BJP has totally failed to deliver good governance for the last 10 months and lost its credibility…,” his letter read. “I have decided that I can’t keep silence. I can’t compromise on the future and security of the indigenous people of Tripura. Therefore, I am submitting my resignation,” he wrote.