Tripura Indigenous People's Front

The Tripura Indigenous People's Front or the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura is one of the predominant political parties that spearheads the political scenario in the northeast Indian state. The coalition of two notable state parties namely, the Tripura Tribal National Conference and the Tripura Hill People's Party resulted in the creation of the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura on 9th June 1997.

It had been presumed that besides the Tripura Tribal National Conference and the Tripura Hill People's Party, the National Volunteers Party formed by Bijoy Hrangkwal would also coalesce to form the Tripura Indigenous People's Front (IPTF). However, this merger did not occur and the party was formed by the active participation of the two parties.

Shri. Debabrata Koloi, a candidate from the erstwhile Tripura Hill People's Party (THPP) was elected the first ever general secretary of the IPFT. The year 2000 marked the first milestone in the party's political career. The Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council elections in the year 2000 earned the party its first ever political breakthrough. The insurgence operations and the guerrilla attacks of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) had resulted in tremendous political turmoil in the state. The extremist organization had also demanded that only IPFT be allowed to contest the elections. While majority of the parties cowered under the threat, the Left Front stood up and went ahead with the elections despite numerous threats, kidnappings and assassinations of the key party members. However, the active support of the NLFT resulted in a landslide victory for the IPFT.

The inclusion of the Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti under the wing of the IPFT in the year 2001 enabled the party to spread its wings further in the state.