Tripura royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya Deb Burman’s newly floated organisation, The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (Tipra), will start its second phase of anti-Citizenship Amendment Act motorcycle rally campaign in march to sensitise the indigenous people against the Act.

Deb Burman had flagged off his first campaign at Khumulwng, the headquarters of Tripura Tribal Area Autonomous District Council, on February 8. “We completed the campaign, which ended on Thursday, within 19 days. Altogether 12,033 volunteers riding over 4,600 motorcycles covered 5,443km and five of the eight districts. We will start our second phase of the campaign next month and will cover the other three districts — Unakoti, Dhalai and North,” Tipra spokesperson Paritosh Debbarma said on Friday.

“The movement was conducted under the leadership of royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya Deb Burman. We appealed to the people to unite against the CAA, which, we believe, will adversely affect the interests of the indigenous people. We received a very good response. We hope that more people will join the rally in its second phase,” he said.

Tipra volunteers will spread out to all the 60 Assembly constituencies of the state in the two campaigns to sensitise people against the Act, Paritosh said.

He claimed that supporters of all political parties, including the ruling BJP and Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), Opposition CPM and Congress and regional parties like the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT) and the National Conference of Tripura (NCT) had extended support against the CAA.

Deb Burman, who was the PCC chief, had left the Congress on September 24, 2019, over his stand favouring revision of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Tripura. He formed Tipra, an apolitical organisation on December 24 to “protect the rights of tribal communities” in the state.