Tripura Agri Workers Union to Combat Neo-fascism
Haripada Das
TRIPURA State unit of All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU) met in its 12th state conference at Sonamura town, Sepahijala District on December 6-7, 2025. The conference called for escalation of mass contact, mobilising people on local issues and building up sustained united struggles with fraternal organisations to combat neo-fascism that the RSS-led BJP government has imposed throughout the country. A. Vijayraghavan, All India President of the organisation was scheduled to attend the conference including the open session but could not reach due to cancellation of flight.
OPEN RALLY
The conference commenced with an impressive open rally at Sonamura town presided by Radha Ballab Debnath, the State President of AIAWU, and addressed by former Chief Minister of the state and senior CPI(M) leader Manik Sarkar, the Vice President of AIAWU Bhanulal Saha, Shyamal Chakraborty MLA, and State Secretary of AIAWU Shyamal Dey.
Describing the plight of marginal downtrodden people, lacerated by price rise, unemployment, paucity of food and work, starvation, malnourishment, lack of health-care services etc., Manik Sarkar said, an independent country like ours did not deserve such a state of affairs after 79 years of independence. There is a mad rush of youths of Tripura to get a job in other states even though they virtually work there as bonded labor, and some come back in a coffin.
This is because of the policy that the RSS-led BJP pursues to serve the interest of handful of corporate houses which are spectacularly flourishing at the cost of the sweat of millions of people. The core national sectors like railway, airports, ports, highways, etc. were raised bit by bit with government exchequer since independence. But to get rid of the obligation of maintaining them, the government has handed over many of those to its favored corporate house at throwaway prices to inflate their quantum of profit. At this juncture, on one hand, popular protests are mounting throughout the country, and on the other hand, a hectic drive is on to divert people’s attention from basic issues with religion, caste and creed based hate campaigns. Thus, it is the call of the hour for all sections of the people to rise in unison to prevent neo-fascism that looms as a menace before the country, Manik Sarkar suggested.
Bhanulal Saha in his address said that agricultural workers don’t aspire to be rich. Their only demand is to get regular work and wages for their survival to cope with the prevalent high prices. During the Left Front regime, the workers were provided with 80 to 85 man-days of work per year. The BJP lured the poor workers with promise of 200 man-days work per year with Rs. 340 wage per day. But now they are practically contemplating abandoning this scheme. Only a meagre number of man-days were provided this year and payment of wages for those is pending for months. Shyamal Dey, state secretary, described how the organisation has to carry on their functioning to expand mass contacts defying tremendous terror unleashed by the ruling party cohorts. Shyamal Chakraborty, MLA, in his speech informed that in every human development indicator, India has been slipping down. It is time the people come out in the streets, irrespective of religion and caste, not only to save the poor, but to save the country from the RSS-led Hindutva onslaught.
DELEGATE SESSION
Prior to the open rally, hoisting of flag and homage to martyrs was held in front of the conference venue in presence of leaders and delegates of the organisation. More than 300 delegates representing 24 Sub-Divisional units attended the conference. On the evening of December 6, in the first delegate session, Shyamal Dey, State Secretary of AIAWU presented the political-organisational report for delegates’ discussion. Pabitra Kar, Secretary, All India Kisan Sabha, Tripura unit as a fraternal organisation greeted the delegates and wished its success.
Altogether 25 delegates participated in the discussion on the Pol-Org report on December 7. The delegates highlighted that large number of poor women are falling into a debt-trap of the micro-finance companies. They are being severely harassed for realisation of interest accrued. The women are being lured to get attached with self-help groups for availing micro-finance loan on soft terms but higher rate of interest. The other issues the delegates referred to are: crisis of drinking water supply, inoperative irrigation plants, scarcity of work for rural labourers, price hike, meagre number of MGNREGA works and non-payment of earned wage for long periods, partisanship against opposition supporters in geo-tagging of PMAY scheme, discrimination on political consideration against the left supporters in supply of fertilizer, agri-equipments, insecticides, etc., from government stores. In procurement of paddy by FCI, a section of ruling party touts act as middlemen to deprive genuine farmers from the official procurement rate. The delegates also said that they are carrying on organisational activities amid the continuous terror let loose by BJP cohorts. The delegates assured the conference that they would overcome this difficult time by mobilising democratic masses.
CALL FOR MASS MOVEMENT
Addressing the conference, Jitendra Chaudhury, Polit Bureau Member of the CPI(M), congratulated the delegates and organisers and elaborated on the national and state situation. In contemporary Tripura, law and order is totally in the hands of law-breakers, and the police are forced to be pawns in the hands of ruling parties to suppress opposition. Thus, it is time to re-mould our organisation making it fit to combat prevailing adversities, Jitendra Chaudhury said. The mounting mass movements on local, state and national issues, be it economic or political, may be culminated in the movement for restoration of democracy, he emphasised.
B. Venkat, All India Secretary of AIAWU, said that Tripura is a model before the struggling democratic masses of the country. A religious fanatic force holding power in Tripura has been committing rape of democracy every day.
“You are on the war field for restoration of law of the land and it is gradually intensifying. But there is no room to be complacent. There is no alternative but to going door to door, making lively contacts with the working village poor,” B. Venkat said.
At the same time, he asserted, no organisation may advance ahead without trained, conscious and dedicated cadres. We must build up such cadre groups comprising dalits, tribals, women and minorities, he suggested.
To make a provision to enroll rural day laborers in the organisation, the Constitution of the organisation was amended, renaming it as “Tripura Agri-Workers and Rural Laborers Union”.
In the last session, an 85-member State Council was proposed and accepted unanimously by the delegates with high applause. The first Council meeting constituted a 21-member State Working Committee and 12-member State Secretariat. Radhaballab Debnath and Shyamal Dey were re-elected as President and Secretary of the organisation respectively.
