The CITU organised a march to the Tripura Assembly on March 23 to push for various demands: Regularise all categories of irregular employees; clear the pending DA/DR arrears; reinstate all retrenched workers, including scheme workers; and the anti-worker Labour Codes must not be implemented in this state. Hundreds of working people who joined the march warned the government: “We will not surrender. This struggle is not over. In the days ahead, the movement will become even stronger.” Leader of the Opposition in the Tripura Assembly Jitendra Choudhury and former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar greeted the fighting spirit of the protesters.

Choudhury said that an unstoppable struggle must be built across the hills and the plains against anti-people policies. Victory has to be achieved. The government is hollowing out from within, he said, and people must prepare to deliver a strong push. Sarkar said that the path of struggle must not be abandoned. People should not fall into the trap of inducements and provocations. The struggle, he said, must be made sharper, more vigorous and broader, and new people must be brought into it.

People of different ages, brimming with the spirit of struggle, gathered at Orient Chowmuhani in Agartala city. Well before 11 am, Orient Chowmuhani was packed with people. The demonstrators also extended cooperation in keeping the roads clear for vehicles, so traffic movement did not face difficulty. A little after 11:30 am, the march began with red flags on their shoulders. The procession moved from Orient Chowmuhani through RMS Chowmuhani, Bidurkarta Chowmuhani and Colonel Chowmuhani, before it was stopped by police near Dimsagar, ahead of the North Gate. There, without obstructing traffic, a meeting was held. Along with red flags, the slogan-filled procession also carried placards bearing various demands. Alongside the working people, employees and pensioners joined the Assembly march.

At the meeting, apart from Choudhury and Sarkar, CITU state president Manik Dey and general secretary Shankar Prasad Dutta delivered speeches.

Choudhury said that transfers of government employees to distant places for political reasons and the retrenchment of scheme workers are occurring frequently. This, he said, is the actual functioning of the government that claims “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas.” He said that the unity of all sections of the working people must be taken to a higher level and a powerful movement built to compel the government to change its policies. The government, he said, is weakening from various sides and its face is growing pale. However much the BJP may claim outside that it will win all 28 out of 28 seats in the TTAADC, internally it is shaky. The top leadership of the two parties may pose aggressively against each other in public, but in Delhi, BJP and Tipra Motha are holding meetings of understanding. For the last five years, he alleged, Tipra Motha has plundered the TTAADC.

Strongly criticising the scrapping of the MGNREGA, Manik Sarkar said that since the BJP came to power at the Centre, it had been trying in various ways to nullify the law and has now launched a final assault. By scrapping MGNREGA, he said, the government has snatched away the right of rural people to secure a minimum income through employment. It is pushing rural people towards hunger and death. To protect the interests of exploiters, it has framed the Labour Codes. This government, he said, is anti-worker, anti-working people and anti-people. People should not get trapped in any illusion about the BJP government. Before elections, he said, it says one thing; after winning and forming the government, it tries to move in the opposite direction.

Referring to the brutal attack on the Assembly march of peasants, jhum cultivators and agricultural labourers on March 18, Sarkar said it is hard to believe the police could have taken such an aggressive role without instructions from the chief minister and the government. After the incident, people across the state have reacted with disgust, he said. During the CITU Assembly march, however, the police showed some restraint and did not dare act in that manner.

Manik Dey said that demands will have to be achieved by intensifying the struggle. The countrywide general strike of February 12 was the first rehearsal against the Modi government, he said, and it served as the first warning. Dey said that this government does not want to understand the condition of working people. It is busy with plunder. With patriotic consciousness, he said, “we are fighting to save the country from the hands of looters.”

Shankar Prasad Dutta said that they had wanted to submit a memorandum containing four demands to the chief minister. However, the chief minister’s office informed them that he would be busy with the Assembly session and therefore would not be able to receive the memorandum, though it could be submitted at another time. He said that the BJP government is deceitful. It does not clear pending DA/DR arrears, does not regularise irregular employees, and has framed the Labour Codes in the interests of the owners.