Agartala, Feb. 17: In a move which might bring it into direct confrontation with militant outfits, the Hoda Okra, the supreme council of Hindu Jamatya tribesmen in Tripura, has called for peaceful elections on February 26. It has also urged the people to cast their ballots “fearlessly with due regard for parliamentary democracy”.
The statement, the first ever electoral guidelines issued by the Hoda, assumes significance in the wake of boycott calls by the banned All-Tripura Tiger Force, the NLFT’s dissident faction led by Nayanbasi Jamatya, as well as stepped-up violence by the rival faction of Biswamohan Debbarma.
Secretary of the Jamatya Hoda, Ramapada Jamatya, said the two okras (leaders), Ashwathama Jamatya and Chintamohan Jamatya, had toured the 16 Jamatya-dominated villages spread over South and West districts from February 8 to 15.
In the course of this ritual tour, undertaken after they were elected to their posts, the Jamatya leaders drew up an 11-point guideline for the welfare of the community. Apart from the appeal urging people to come out and cast their ballots braving the militant threat, the one decision which may pit the Hoda against the NLFT and Church-backed INPT, is the call to celebrate the Tripuri New Year on the first day of Baisakh.
During the past few years, the NLFT rebels, backed by the Church and Christian elements in the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura, have been celebrating the Tripuri New Year in the third week of December to bring it closer to Christmas. The Hoda, which has built up an organised resistance against the NLFT in the past two years, is determined to keep alive the tradition of celebrating the New Year in the month of Baisakh.
The Hoda has also resolved to take steps to prevent Jamatya youths from joining militant outfits and make an effort to bring those who have already done so, into the mainstream. It has imposed a ban on child marriages, gambling and consumption of beef and dog meat.
The leaders said the number of schools run the Hoda would be raised to 20 from the present 11 in the next two years.