Vol. XLII No. 31 August 05, 2018
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Meanwhile in Tripura

Rahul Sinha

Statue of Comrade Baidyanath Majumder vandalized

In the intervening night of July 25, the BJP goons vandalized a statue of Comrade Baidyanath Majumder ,  former deputy chief minister  and former secretary of CPI(M) Tripura state committee at Chandipur, Kailashahar. The spree of vandalism that started with Comrade Lenin's statue in Belonia   just after the results of the assembly election was declared, has not spared Karl Marx, Che Guevara, Dr  Ambedkar. Few days ago statues of Comrade Dasharath Deb the legendary figure of left movement in the state too was vandalised.  Not spared were the greatest sons of Tripura like Comrade Bimal Sinha and Comrade Chandramohan Debbarma who made supreme sacrifices in the fight against extremism and terrorism.  Now the statue of Comrade Baidyanath Majumder became their target. In a spontaneous reaction protest marches were organized in Kailashahar and Agartala. On July 29, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and leader of opposition,  Manik Sarkar, CPI (M) Central Committee member Tapan Chakraborty and others visited the spot where the statue was erected.  Here in front of hundreds of people,  Manik Sarkar said, this is an act of cowardice. Comrade Baidyanath Majumder dedicated his entire life for the welfare of the people.  Those who have committed this barbaric act have shown their inability to counter the opposition politically and ideologically. The statue shall be reconstructed with the help of people once again. Later in a press conference he said since the change of government in the state democracy is under attack. Instead of rule of law, a rule of jungle has been imposed. We have lost four of our comrades; more than 2000 incidents of attacks have taken place. Offices of the opposition are being plundered, vandalised, forcibly occupied and what is unprecedented is that  the government is destroying the offices with bulldozers. If the opposition is denied its rights the constitution itself will be endangered, he said. 

A document of deceit: GMP

The recommendations of the BJP – IPFT government on tribal welfare is nothing but a document of deceit, said Tripura Rajya Upajati Gana Mukti Parishad or GMP as it is popularly called.  Recently the state cabinet has announced that it has adopted a 7 point recommendation on tribal welfare and this will be sent to the Union government for further action. The GMP in its reaction to it said, while the Left Front government was in office, Tripura was considered a model in tribal welfare and tribal development. The Union government used to send its officers and delegations from different states to Tripura to have a first hand experience of the alternative path of development in Tripura. This could be possible because the Left Front government gave recognition to Kokborok (native language of Tripura) and worked for the socio economic and cultural development of the tribal people. It is Tripura where the FRA had been implemented most successfully. The previous government popularized and encouraged the tribal culture all over the country. Now the present government is trying to cover up its total failure and lack of governance, the severe shortage of work in tribal areas with this piece of recommendations to the BJP led government at the centre, which in 2017-18 had slashed the allocation for tribal sub plan in North East by 500 crores of rupees. This government is trying to fool the tribal people. But their trick won't work for too many days. The IPFT is in a pitiable situation said Radhacharan Debbarma, GMP general secretary and chief executive member (CEM) of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC). They had started with slogans of a separate state, which we had said was impractical. Now they are at the mercy of BJP, for few posts of block advisory committee (BAC) Chairmen. 

False claims of good governance

With almost 5 months in office and no achievements to showcase except for misrule, murder of democracy and sufferings of people on every front the BJP led coalition government is becoming desperate to grab some appreciation. But with no feather of success in its cap it has started hijacking success of the previous Left Front government and trumpeting those as its own achievement. Bengaluru based Public Affairs Centre (PAC) in its recent report ranked Tripura among the top 5 of the small states for good governance.  This was based on the figures and statistics of 2016-17. On the same parameter Kerala was at the top of bigger states. But in its desperation and hurry the ministers and the state leaders of the BJP even claimed this as the success of the 4 and half month old government making themselves a laughing stock.

Continuing with the same spirit the CM recently inaugurated the Haj House in Agartala. The building was a part of the planned effort of the Left Front government in minority welfare.  It was completed before the election but couldn't be inaugurated as model code of conduct came into force. While this is quite natural that the present government shall have the privilege of opening all the projects started and completed by the previous government but not formally inaugurated, the remarks of the CM was unacceptable.  He was on the dais of a ceremony of inauguration what the previous government had completed and he said no development took place during the last 25 years. This is nothing but a shameless act of distorting history.