THE BJP has declared a war to unseat the Left Front government in Tripura. It is in consonance with its declared policy to marginalise the Left, particularly the CPI(M), as we straightforwardly and stoutly oppose their communal Hindutva ideology. But inevitably Tripura will be political Waterloo for the BJP, which is trying to manipulate the people’s mandate by muscle and money power, along with its Hindutva communalism. This was asserted by CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury in a crowded press conference at the CPI(M) Tripura state committee office on May 21. He was addressing media persons after attending the May 20-21 state committee meeting of the party which for the first time dealt with preparation of the ensuing assembly election scheduled to be held early next year. CPI(M) state secretary Bijan Dhar and Central Committee member Gautam Das were also present in the press meet.

Yechury said that next year’s Tripura assembly election is very much important not only for the people of Tripura, or northeastern states, but also for national political scenario. In Kerala, the saffron forces are trying to destabilise the elected government by way of unleashing heinous attacks on Left workers on one hand, and falsely propagating the attacked as the perpetrators. In West Bengal, they are trying to bring about communal polarisation in league with the ruling TMC with an objective to resist the Left from emerging as a big power. After yielding victory in Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand with communal politics, and formation of governments in Goa, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur in clandestine manner, they think themselves to be invincible and are thus targetting Tripura. In this political battle, the CPI(M) shall fight for the victory in all the 60 assembly constituencies, Yechury announced.

Retorting to the celebration for completion of three years of the Modi government, Yechury reminded the election pledges made during the 2014 parliamentary election. But what is the reality today, he asked. Certainly good days have come, but it is for the big corporate, not for the common people. While during the UPA regime one per cent people had the share of 49 per cent resource of the country, under Modi’s regime same 1 per cent owns 58.4 per cent resources of the country. The quantum of unrealised corporate loan is as high as Rs 11 lakh crore, 37 per cent of the total bank credit. While legal action is initiated against a defaulter peasant for a meager amount, the Modi government hardly takes any step to realise huge corporate loans.

Referring to Modi’s election pledge of two crores job generation in a year, Yechury said, according to official record, employment could be made for only 1.35 lakh in 2015 and 2.30 lakh in 2016. He cited the dismal consequences of demonetisation which led to lakh of job loss in unorganised sector. To add salt to the wound, he said, the Modi government has halved the allocation on MNREGA scheme, which will aggravate the plight of the rural people. The allocation for Tripura has been so drastically cut, it will not be possible to provide more than 42 days’ work in a year, despite Tripura accomplishing the best performance in the country consecutively for four years in this scheme, he said.

Narrating the distress of the country’s peasantry, he said that on average 12,000 farmers commit suicide in a year. What would be the fate of the country where food-producers perish themselves? Citing the diminishing trend in the manufacturing industry, he said industrial growth has reduced from 5.5 under the UPA regime to 2.7 under the present Modi regime. Inflation is rising. Sugar and kerosene have been withdrawn from the ration shops. Public distribution is on the verge of liquidation. In health services, the country’s position has come down from 165 to 154 in last three years, he said.

To divert the people’s attention from these burning issues, the BJP is playing with communal Hindutva card, unleashing tortures targeting Muslim and Dalits. The BJP has raised some private army in the names of ‘gau raksha squad’, ‘anti-Romeo squad’, etc. to subjugate the minorities and Dalits. He demanded a ban these private armies.    

With all these misdeeds, if the BJP thinks that the people of Tripura would be purchased only by false campaign and bundles of money, then it is living in fool’s paradise, Yechury asserted.

Replying to a query about Modi’s argument for abolishing the ‘triple talaq’ system of Muslim private law, he said that we are opposing this system as is practiced at present. But, if Modi was really sincere to protect the rights of women, then why does not he pass in the Lok Sabha the Women’s Reservation Bill which was unanimously passed by the Rajya Sabha three years ago, he asked.