Agartala, September 11:<\/strong> Veteran politician and former Congress MLA Tapas Dey, a familiar figure in Tripura’s political landscape for more than five decades, died at GBP Hospital in Agartala on Friday following a prolonged illness. He was 84.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dey breathed his last at around 1:45 am. News of his death led to an outpouring of condolences from political leaders cutting across party lines, with several recalling his contribution to public life and social service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chief Minister Prof. (Dr.) Manik Saha paid tribute to Dey, describing him as an experienced politician and distinguished social worker. Saha said the veteran leader’s contribution to Tripura would be remembered and conveyed his sympathies to the bereaved family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minister Ratan Lal Nath, Agartala Mayor Dipak Majumder and former Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik also expressed grief over his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among the tributes, Pradyot Kishore Debbarma’s recollection stood out for its personal nature. The former Tipra Motha supremo described Dey as his first political guide and mentor, saying the veteran leader had introduced him to Tripura’s history and politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pradyot appealed to Tipra Motha workers to honour Dey by keeping the party flag at half-mast and observing a minute’s silence. He added that his mother, Rajmata Bibhu Devi, also mourned the veteran leader and conveyed condolences to his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dey’s political roots can be traced to his arrival in Tripura in 1965 as a refugee from East Pakistan. He soon became involved in student politics while studying at Tripura Polytechnic and Ram Thakur College, where he served as General Secretary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His rise in electoral politics came in 1972 when he won the Shalgara Assembly constituency. At the time, his victory made him one of the youngest members of the Tripura Assembly, with the election result announced through All India Radio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dey subsequently spent much of his political career with the Congress and maintained a close association with veteran party leader Priyadas Chakraborty. His political journey later took him to the Tripura Democratic Front and eventually Tipra Motha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Age did not end his engagement with electoral politics. In the 2023 Assembly elections, Dey contested as a Tipra Motha candidate at the age of 81.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His final journey on Saturday brought together people from different sections of Tripura’s public life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The mortal remains were first taken to the Tripura Legislative Assembly, where Congress state president Asish Kumar Saha, Speaker Rampada Jamatia and other legislators paid their respects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From there, the body was taken to the Agartala Press Club. Journalists, political leaders and admirers gathered to pay homage to the veteran politician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The final public tribute took place at the Rajbari, where Tipra Motha workers and supporters, led by CEM Runiel Debbarma, gathered to bid farewell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dey’s death marks the end of a political career that began in the years following Partition and continued through several generations of Tripura’s political history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Agartala, September 11: Veteran politician and former Congress MLA Tapas Dey, a familiar figure in Tripura’s political landscape for more than five decades, died at GBP Hospital in Agartala on Friday following a prolonged illness. He was 84. Dey breathed his last at around 1:45 am. News of his death led to an outpouring of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":243,"featured_media":26240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[6140],"class_list":["post-26239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized"],"authors":[{"term_id":6140,"user_id":243,"is_guest":0,"slug":"bindusmitabhowmik","display_name":"Bindusmita Bhowmik","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-03-02-at-11.04.01-AM.jpeg","url2x":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-03-02-at-11.04.01-AM.jpeg"},"author_category":"1","first_name":"Bindusmita","last_name":"Bhowmik","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26241,"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26239\/revisions\/26241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26239"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=26239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}