| Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura | |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1997 - 2001 |
| Ideology | Tripuri nationalism |
The Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura was a political party in the Indian state of Tripura. Formed on June 9, 1997 when the Tripura Hill People's Party and Tripura Tribal National Conference merged. Initially the Tripura National Volunteers of Bijoy Hrangkwal was supposed to merge into the IPFT, but they withdrew from the project. Debabrata Koloi, the THPP leader, became the IPFT general secretary.
IPFT gained its political breakthrough in the elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council in 2000. The underground terrorist outfit National Liberation Front of Tripura had declared that only IPFT would be allowed to contest the elections. The only ones to defy the NLFT diktat were the Left Front, in spite of a series of assassinations, death threats and kidnappings. The elections were won by IPFT, largely due to the support from NLFT. TNV supported IPFT in the elections.
Shortly after the elections TNV joined IPFT. In 2001 Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti merged with IPFT to form the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura, after pressure from NLFT.