Paul Dangshu on Tribal Youth Identity

Paul Dangshu, the youngest Member of Legislative Assembly in Tripura, delivered a compelling address at the Youth and Democracy Conference, speaking with the clarity and conviction of someone who has lived the very issues he came to discuss. As a young tribal leader navigating the complex corridors of Indian parliamentary democracy, Paul brought a perspective that was at once deeply personal and urgently political — one that few in that room were positioned to offer.

At the heart of his speech was a call for solidarity. Paul spoke passionately about tribal identity not as a relic of the past, but as a living, evolving foundation from which young people can draw strength and political purpose. He argued that for democracy to be truly representative, it must make space for the voices of communities that have historically been spoken about rather than spoken to — and that the responsibility for building that space falls, above all, on the shoulders of young people themselves.