A historic tripartite agreement was signed on Saturday among the Centre, the Tripura Government and The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA), popularly known as TIPRA Motha, to amicably resolve all issues of indigenous people of the North-Eastern state relating to history, land, identity, culture and language.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was present at the accord signing ceremony in New Delhi, said today is a historic day for Tripura and through this pact, the Centre has looked at the future by honouring history and accepting present day realities.

”No one can change history but we can always move forward by learning from mistakes and by keeping in mind today’s realities,” he said, adding the Tripura Government had made several efforts for the accord to fructify.

On behalf of TIPRA, the agreement was signed by its founder Pradyot Debbarma. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha was also present on the occasion.

Mr Shah said that in realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of a Viksit Bharat, Tripura will also be committed to making its contribution. The Centre, he said, has made all-out efforts to give shape to the vision of an insurgency-free, dispute-free and violence-free Northeast. He noted that due to several agreements by the Modi Government, around 10,000 people have given up arms and joined the mainstream, which has resulted in creation of an environment of development.

The home minister said that be it the Bru-Reang agreement or the border agreement, it all started with Tripura and today again it is an agreement for this North-Eastern state. He said nobody now has to struggle for his rights and the Centre will itself come forward to develop a system which will protect the rights of all.

Under the pact, it was agreed to amicably resolve all issues of indigenous people of Tripura relating to history, land and political rights, economic development, identity, culture and language.

Along with this, it was agreed to constitute a Joint Working Group/Committee to work out and implement the mutually agreed points on all the above mentioned issues in a time-bound manner to ensure an honourable solution. In order to maintain a conducive atmosphere for implementation of the pact, all stakeholders shall refrain from resorting to any form of protest/agitation, starting from the day of the signing of the agreement.