Pradyot Kishore raises issue of land right for tribals before VC elections

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, September 2, 2026

Come elections and Pradyot Kishore reverts to a populist issue to garner and retain his vote-bank by taking the tribals for a ride. The elections to the 587 Village Committees within ADC has already been announced by the state election commission and Pradyot Kishore who was invisible and unvoluble for a long time after constituting a one-man executive council in the newly elected ADC has resurfaced in state politics with his brand of divisive ethno-centric politics.

This time his demand is for land rights for tribals as if the tribals of Tripura have been divested of their right to land but here Pradyot is playing a clever game : his demand is that the ADC be conferred the right of land so that it can allot land to whosoever it likes , settle disputes of any kind or do whatever it likes with the land . This also includes the right to lease out land to favoured investors from outside the state. His demand is based on conferment of similar rights to the ADCs in Dimasa, Karbi Anglong and Bodo Territorial Council by Centre through a short-sighted decision.

But there is a catch here, the land in ADC areas already belongs to tribals and the small percentage of non-tribal population who still live in ADC areas on sufferance enjoy the right of possession only but can not sell their land to anyone except to tribals-that too with permission obtained in advance from ADC authority. No non-tribal can validly purchase land within ADC areas as per law enshrined in TTAADC act and rules and TLRLR Act-1960 which has been amended fourteen times. As per historical records, Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya had reserved two large tracts of lands for five major tribal communities by two installments in 1931 and 1943 as he had been keen to ensure resettlement of non-tribals in plainland areas of Tripura and at the same time to protect land interests of tribals.

Maharani Kanchan Prava Debi had dereserved a small portion of this land in 1949 to facilitate rehabilitation of immigrants from Chakla Roshanabad that had formed part of princely Tripura before partition of the country. But the rest of the land remained intact and was designated as ‘demarcated land’ spread over 433 revenue villages on which the ADC now stands from the time of formation-that is 68.10% of the state’s total territory. Interestingly , most of the non-tribals resettled within present ADC area by successive governments had been driven away by tribal militants and communal elements long ago and that land , quite considerable in terms of areas also belong to the ADC now and its inhabitants as the original non-tribal owners and allottees will never go back to claim that portion of land.

Given this context, Pradyot’s new gimmick over land right to ADC which otherwise is controlled by the state administration is interpreted by experts as an unnecessary issue raised in partisan interest. They said that , having totally failed to let the ADC run effectively as an instrument of tribal development, Pradyot is in urgent need of retaining his sway over the tribal electorate by raising contentious and emotive issues . He will keep doing so in future also , experts including tribal intellectuals believe.

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