TIPRA Motha leader Tapas Dey dies at 80 in Tripura after prolonged illness

Former Tripura legislator and TIPRA Motha leader Tapas Dey died at Govind Ballabh Pant Hospital in Agartala on Saturday following a prolonged illness, party leaders said. He was 80 years old when he passed away at Govind Ballabh Pant Hospital, the state’s first referral hospital.

Dey contested his first Assembly election in 1972 on a Congress ticket, when Tripura attained full statehood. He didn’t contest since then but stayed loyal to the party even when a majority of Congress leaders and activists switched over to the BJP before it stormed to power in 2018.

Dey had close relations with the Tripura royals dating back to the period of late king Kirit Bikram Kishore Manikya Debbarma. Kirit Bikram was a former Congress MP and father of TIPRA Motha party supremo Pradyot Kishore.

“Tapas babu is no more and I can’t imagine how cruel life can be . Tapas Dey was my first political Guide and someone who taught me a lot about tripura history and politics. I request all my Tipra Motha warriors to honour Tapas Dey by lowering our party flag in half mast and by honouring him with a minute of silence . I will always miss him on a personal level . My mother rajmata Bibhu Devi also joins me in this moment of grief and sadness,” Kishore wrote on his Facebook page.

Dey joined Tripura Democratic Front (TDF) in 2021, a party that was formed with a breakaway faction of the Congress. After royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarma left Congress in 2019 over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), he floated TIPRA Motha in 2021.

A year later, he launched a frontal wing named TIPRA Citizens Federation, where Tapas Dey joined as its head. He contested the 2023 Assembly elections against BJP minister Ratan Lal Nath but was defeated.

Dey lost his wife, Rani Chowdhury (Dey), in 2021 following a prolonged illness.