# Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barma

Pradyot Manikya Deb Barma (born 4 July 1978) is the current titular King (Maharaja) and statesman from Tripura. He was born in New Delhi, and now resides in Agartala, Tripura. He also served as the editor of TNT-The Northeast Today. He is the current chairman of The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance also known as TIPRA Motha. He is known as 'Bubagra' among his people and is one of the active voices for the rights of Indigenous Tripuri people of Tripura.

## Early life and education

Pradyot was born in New Delhi on 4 July 1978 as the first son of Kirit Bikram Kishore Debbarma and Bhibu Kumari Devi. His childhood days were spent in Shillong, Meghalaya at the Tripura castle. He studied history in St. Edmund's College of Shillong.

## Political career

Pradyot Manikya's work, philanthropy, activism, and politics revolves around the socio-political, economic, and cultural development of the Indigenous people of Tripura.

### Indian National Congress

As a youth, Pradyot Manikya was an active Indian National Congress politician. His father Kirit Bikram Debbarma was a three-time MP and his mother Bibhu Kumari Devi, a two-time Congress MLA had served as the Revenue Minister of Tripura. Although Pradyot did not contest election until the 2021 TTAADC election, he had remained active in protest, agitations and movement for the Tiprasa people of Tripura.
In the 2018 Lok Sabha election, he was an active campaigner for his sister Maharaj Kumari Pragya Debbarma who contested for the Tripura East. He had also tried to forge a regional alliance during that period which did not happen.

### Exit from Indian National Congress: 2019

After the fallout with the Tripura Pradesh Congress in 2019, Bubagra Pradyot Manikya resigned from the President post over the dispute of NRC case filing and took a break from active politics. However, he started to gain voice and support for his agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2018 (now an act). He also jointly filed a case with TPF Supremo Patal Kanya Jamatia in the Supreme Court to revoke CAA in the state of Tripura and enforce NRC with the cut off year as 1951.

### TipraHa Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA): 2020–Present

Pradyot formed the then NGO TipraHa Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance to assist stranded people during the COVID crisis. Through his effort, students and workers living in various cities of India were brought to their respective home to Tripura.

### Tipra Motha Party

The Tipra Motha Party led by Pradyot came to being ahead of the 2021 TTAADC election. The party won the election with a landslide securing 18 seats out of the 28 seats. In 2023, Pradyot's Tipra Motha Party won 13 seats in Tripura Assembly Election.

## Positions held

* Chairman of The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA)
* Chairman of the Club Heritage - Tripura Castle Hotel
* Current Head of The Tripura Royal Family
* Former Member of the All India Congress Committee
* Advisor to the Northeast Students Committee, Delhi
* Advisor to the Northeast Regional Development Association (NERDA)
* Chairman of the Royal Tripura Foundation
* Former Member of the governing council of Tripura Central University
* Former General Secretary Tripura Pradesh Congress
* Former President of Tripura Pradesh Congress

## Tiprasa Accord

The Tiprasa Accord was signed on March 2, 2024 as a tripartite agreement between Pradyot led Tipra Motha Party (TMP), Tripura Government, and Government of India. The agreement sought to bring about a constitutional solution safeguarding the identity, culture, language, and uplifting the socio-economic conditions of the Indigenous Tiprasa people.

## Public life, activism and opinions

Bubagra Pradyot is quite active in his public life and can be seen having taken part on several occasions like the TEDx Talks. On 16 February 2020, he organized a Q&A interactive session with students at Townhall, Agartala where he talked and discussed about leadership, clarity and issues like Citizenship Amendment Act with the students present. He also suggested that a scholarship in the name of Maharaja Bir Bikram be started by the Government of Tripura rather than putting up a statue.
He launched The Northeast Today, a magazine targeted at residents of India's northeastern states. This enjoys a readership just shy of 1,000,000. He resigned and sold his magazine in November 2019 to concentrate on his own regional platform The Indigenous Progressive regional alliance popularly known as TIPRA. He is one of India's most vocal critics of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and is a prolific guest speaker at universities, the most notable being Harvard. He has been active in protesting against the CAA since the passing of the bill in 2019 at the parliament.

### Greater Tipraland Movement

   TIPRA is still more of a movement than a political party.
   Pradyot Bikram Manikya, Outlook.