Tripura: PM Modi’s Claims and Facts
Haripada Das
PRIME Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to Tripura on December 18, at a time when the election authority and key administrative officers are engaged in preparations for the upcoming assembly elections in the state that are expected to be held in mid-February 2023. Crores of rupees from government exchequer were spent on displaying images of the prime minister and other ministers throughout the state, cleaning and decorating the road from the airport to the meeting ground, issuing advertisements in various print and electronic media and hiring vehicles for carrying people to the meeting. For a week, the entire administration worked with the sole aim of making the prime minister’s rally a success. The beneficiaries of various government schemes were compelled to attend the rally, lest their benefit be discontinued. A written order was issued to all central and state government officers and employees to ensure their presence in the rally.
Sharply reacting to the false claims made by the prime minister on various state issues, CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chowdhury said the people of Tripura were utterly disappointed because they did not hear any of the words that they wanted to hear from him. Chowdhury gave clarifications on the issues raised by the prime minister.
The people of Tripura expected to hear from him about the progress of the promises made by him in the BJP’s ‘Vision Document’ ahead of the last assembly elections. Of the 299 promises, there were ten key promises highlighted on the front page of the ‘Vision Document’. Those included 50,000 jobs per year in government vacancies, regularisation of all part-time, fixed-pay workers, implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations, 200 man-days for MGNREGA workers with a wage of Rs 340 per day, enhancement of social pension to Rs 2,000, permanent solution to the problem of 10,323 retrenched teachers on humanitarian grounds. But unfortunately, he did not utter a word about these.
MODI’S CLAIMS AND FACTS
Agartala Airport: The prime minister tried to take credit for the Agartala airport’s upgrade as an international airport. But the fact is that, though it was declared an international airport 11 months ago, not a single international flight operated till now. On the contrary, the number of domestic flights has declined leading to a rise in ticket prices. Naturally, he chose not to mention that the erstwhile Left Front government acquired land for upgradation of the Agartala airport with its own fund and bidding of agencies and upgradation works started during its tenure.
Agartala-Akhaura Rail Project: The project was agreed upon in 2010 and the Left Front government acquired land for it. It was decided to complete the project within five years. Though some work progressed during the Left Front regime, after the BJP came to power in the state, the deadline for completion of the project is being extended every year.
PMAY Housing Scheme: One-and-half lakh beneficiaries were selected for providing housing on the basis of an economic survey conducted in 2011. The then Left Front government insisted that the central government release funds in this scheme. But neither the Congress-led government nor the BJP government responded to the state government’s requests till 2018. After assuming power in the state, with a view to gain political mileage from this scheme, the Modi government released funds in 2020 based on the estimation made in 2011. Naturally due to the price hike of construction materials coupled with devaluation of money, most of the beneficiaries are in trouble to complete their houses. Till now, 65 per cent beneficiaries could not complete their houses, even though the prime minister did a virtual inauguration of PMAY houses in the rally.
Pineapple Marketing: The prime minister claimed credit for marketing the state’s pineapple and jackfruit in the international market. With much fanfare, a small quantity of pineapple was sent to a middle-east country by the government as a demonstration, but it did not provide any benefit to the growers. The prime minister should know that pineapple and jackfruit growing areas are largely declining in the state, instead of any expansion.
Industrial Growth Centre: Not a single new unit came up during the BJP regime in the Rubber Park raised by the Left Front government. The Budhjungnagar industrial growth centre was developed by the Left Front government with many plants and industrial units providing jobs to thousands of youth. At present many of the entrepreneurs have shut down their units which are now left deserted because of onslaughts of ruling party mafias. Now the area has been converted into a den of mafias and narcotic traders.
Tribal Interests: The prime minister claims to be the champion of tribal upliftment and cited the BJP’s victory in 24 of the 27 ST reserved seats in the recently held Gujarat assembly elections. But the fact that pains every tribal of the country is that thousands of tribals from the peripheral areas of Sardar Patel’s gigantic statue in Gujarat were evicted from their ancestral land without any compensation. More than one crore tribals live in Gujarat and there are many compact tribal habitations. Why is there not a single Autonomous Tribal District Council like that in Tripura and Assam? The share of tribal population in the country is nine per cent. According to the directive of the Tribal Sub-Plan, proportionate budget allocation for upliftment of the tribal people should be nine per cent, i.e., Rs 3.5 lakh crore of the total budget allocation of Rs 42 lakh crore. Instead, the prime minister himself admitted that the tribal welfare budget was only Rs 88,000 crore.
Problem of Extremism: It is a fact that the state has now largely been relieved of extremist onslaught as claimed by the prime minister. But does Prime Minister Modi deserve the credit for it? It was the Left Front government which achieved success in largely alienating the extremist outfits with a three-pronged strategy -- political, developmental and administrative. The approach of the Left Front government got nationwide appreciation. After 2009, there was hardly any extremist attack in the state. In the Northeast, the AFSPA was first withdrawn only in Tripura by the Left Front government. The state, which was once bleeding due to activities of the extremist outfits patronised by foreign agencies, is now almost daily bleeding due to the so-called ‘rashtravadi’ bike-borne hooligans of the ruling BJP, Jitendra Chowdhury asserted.
The state government got some projects inaugurated by the prime minister, but the minimum infrastructure required for rolling out these projects has not been developed. The prime minister inaugurated some other projects which were in operation for long. In this way, Modi lowered the decorum of the esteemed office of the prime minister, Chowdhury said.
