Pradyot Manikya Deb Barma (born 4 July 1978) is the current titular King (
Maharaja
Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent, Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and Medieval India, medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a pri ...
) and statesman from
Tripura
Tripura () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...
. He was born in
New Delhi
New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
, and now resides in
Agartala
Agartala (, , ) is the capital and the List of cities and towns in Tripura, largest city of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tripura, situated on the banks of Haora River, Haora/Saidra River, about east of the border ...
, Tripura. He also served as the editor of TNT-The Northeast Today. He is the current chairman of
The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance
The Tipra Motha Party (TMP), also known as the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance, is a regional political party and previously a social organisation in Tripura, India. The TIPRA is led by Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barma. It is ...
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
The Tripuri people (Kokborok language, Kókborok: ''Tripuri dópha rok''), also known as Tripura, Tipra, Twipra, Tipperah, are a Tibeto-Burman-speaking ethnic group of Northeast India, Indian state of Tripura and Bangladesh. They are the descend ...
of
Tripura
Tripura () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...
.
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
Shillong (, ) is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India. It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in India, 330th most populous city ...
,
Meghalaya
Meghalaya (; "the abode of clouds") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeast India. Its capital is Shillong. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the Assam: the United Khasi Hills an ...
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
Tripura () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...
.
Indian National Congress
As a youth, Pradyot Manikya was an active
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...
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
Tripura () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...
and enforce
NRC with the cut off year as 1951.
TipraHa Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA): 2020–Present
Pradyot formed the then
NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
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
The Tipra Motha Party (TMP), also known as the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance, is a regional political party and previously a social organisation in Tripura, India. The TIPRA is led by Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barma. It is c ...
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
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from States and union territories of India, state-level Pradesh Congress Commit ...
* 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
The Government of Tripura, also known as the State Government of Tripura, or locally as State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Tripura and its 8 districts. It consists of an executive, led by the Governor ...
, and
Government of India
The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...
. 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
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December 2019. It amended the Citizenship Act, 1955 by providing an accelerated pathway to Indian citizenship for persecuted refugees of religious minoritie ...
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
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
. 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.
Bibliography
*
*
Filmography
Films
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deb Barman, Kirit Pradyot
1978 births
Living people
Tripuri people
People from Tripura
People from Agartala
Indian National Congress politicians from Tripura
Tipra Motha Party politicians
Indian political party founders
North-Eastern Hill University alumni