The Third Martyr, Pradip Debbarma

THE number of martyrs in the BJP-IPFT coalition regime rose to three on Monday, June 4. Comrade Pradip Debbarma (35), an active member of CPI(M) and TYF was brutally murdered by saffron goons and his body was thrown away in a nearby rivulet. On Monday morning his body was recovered from that rivulet near a brick cline along the Assam-Agartala national highway in Jirania Subdivision of West Tripura.

THE by-election to the Chengannur assembly constituency, a traditional bastion of the opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), has proved that the incumbent LDF government has won the confidence of the people through various development and welfare measures.

CPI(M) candidate Saji Cherian won the by-election with a huge margin of over 20,000 votes. The result was announced on May 31, a day after the culmination of the second anniversary celebrations of the LDF government led by Pinarayi Vijayan.

COMMEMORATING the death anniversary of Comrade P Sundarayya, Makineni Basavapunnaiah Trust had organised a memorial lecture on the ‘Agrarian Crisis in India: Some Reflections.’ The lecture was delivered by Venkatesh Athreya, well-known economist, on May 19, at Makineni Basavapunnaiah Vignana Kendram in Vijayawada.  P Madhu, trustee of MBVK presided over the meeting.

Almost three months after the BJP-IPFT government assumed office in Tripura, the Left Front on May 25, had organised a mass sit-in programme at Agartala to lodge its protest against the overall anti-democratic atmosphere prevailing in the state; demanding immediate halt to the fascist like terror by the ruling parties;  for halting the selected demolition of the offices of the opposition parties and trade unions; for speedy measures to check the scarcity of food and work in tribal and rural areas and for ensuring rule of law in the state.

A LARGE public meeting and rally in Sarbhog in Assam on May 12 marked the commencement of an extended state council meeting of the Assam State Kisan Sabha. The meeting, attended by several thousand peasants as well as other sections of the people, called for intensifying struggles against anti-people and anti-peasant policies of the BJP governments at the centre and in the state.