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