DESPAIRED of ever winning the faith of the democratic-minded and politically-conscious people of Tripura, the BJP has been leaving no stone unturned to create a fear psychosis among them ahead of the February 18 assembly election. The BJP inducted miscreants into the party for carrying out clandestine attacks, arson and rampage against the CPI(M). Alongside such rampage, they are also spreading provocative rumours, uploading obscene images and pervasive comments on social media, aimed at character assassination of the left leaders, to vitiate the peaceful electoral environment in the state. But instead of either bowing to fear or falling into the trap of provocation, the people of Tripura are foiling the BJP’s evil design by giving a roaring response to the statewide poll campaign of the Left Front.

Desperate, the BJP has now organised the infiltration of hundreds of storm troopers from outside the state, along with a large number of motor vehicles. Although most of these motor vehicles are plying in various constituencies of the state flouting electoral regulations, they could hardly make any impact on the people’s mind with their cosmetic manner of campaign. The youths inducted by the BJP from outside have been sheltered in the houses of their supporters. This drive of the BJP created panic among the peace-loving, democratic people because the youths are not being exposed by the BJP in their campaign. With the long tradition of festive and peaceful polls in Tripura thus put under grave threat, the CPI(M) has demanded that the Election Commission push back such highly suspicious outsiders.

Since the announcement of the names of the Left Front nominees for all the 60 seats on January 24, the candidates have advanced a great deal in carrying out their first round of campaign. Whereas the opposition camp is riven by internal feuds over candidature. The BJP at last finalised its alliance with NLFT extremists supported IPFT(NC) sparing nine seats for them. While IPFT(NC)’s has not yet declared any retreat from its main poll plank of a “Separate Twipraland” carved out of the present TTAADC area, the BJP claims that it will not compromise with the integrity of the state. This unholy alliance, in one hand, has aggravated the bickering over seats inside the BJP’s own house, and deepened the apprehension in the minds of the people, on the other, whether the peaceful democratic atmosphere would be sustained during the election, because, sensible people see this alliance as a combination of two evil forces, i.e. communal and separatist forces. Without resolving internal bickering over seats, the BJP at long last announced from Delhi the names of candidates in 44 seats on January 27 and remaining seven seats on January 28. Immediately after the announcement of the names of the candidates, BJP state unit vice president Subal Bhowmik, aggrieved of not getting the seat of his choice, declared that he would not contest this time. Another BJP leader, Tinku Roy, revolted in Dharmanagar. Both the rebel leaders were flown to Delhi in a chartered flight to douse their anger. In fact, the smokescreen of swindle on which the BJP-IPFT(NC) combine is established, has boomeranged on the party organisation itself. That is why the IPFT(NC) and the BJP like a single hydra-headed monster are making contradictory claims before the people of Tripura about the BJP-led Centre’s stand on the issue of dividing Tripura.

The Congress, which suffered a great erosion because of a massive exodus of its rank and file to the BJP in the last two years, has started rising its head again by restructuring the organisation. A section of the frustrated BJP ticket aspirants is now contemplating to return to the Congress fold. The Congress party reduced in strength from 10 to 2 in the Assembly, published yesterday the names of 56 candidates, leaving their door open for adjustment with the Trinamool Congress at the remaining four seats.

The Left Front’s massive election rallies, addressed by CPI(M) Polit Bureau members Manik Sarkar, Brinda Karat, Surjya Kanta Mishra and Subhashini Ali, and Central Committee members Bijan Dhar, Gautam Das, Aghore Debbarma and Tapan Sen, along with several other Left Front leaders of Tripura, as well as the daily door-to-door campaign, all spiritedly articulate the steely determination of the state populace to defend the unity and integrity of Tripura against the venomous fangs of the nefarious nexus of pro-corporate and anti-people, communal-cum-secessionist forces.

Manik Sarkar, in his rallies, said that the entire toiling masses, small and medium traders, weaker sections, minorities, backward communities and patriotic, peace-loving, democratic and secular-minded people nationwide were eagerly looking up to Tripura, among the leading states of the country’s powerful democratic mass movement flashpoints, for pioneering the alternative path of peace and progress, unity and integrity. That is why he gave a fervent call to the people to not only defeat the enemies of the people, the BJP-IPFT(NC) combine, but also win over the loyalists of the enemy camp and bring them over to the fold of the Red Flag. The recent electoral alliance between the BJP and the IPFT(NC) is nothing but the exposure of the BJP’s remote-control device active since long before the announcement of the assembly polls in Tripura in its frantic but futile bid to destabilise the state. He voiced his full faith in the people of the state for defeating such conspiratorial device designed to dislodge the Left Front government here.

Despite the opposition’s intense desire to form an electoral grand-alliance against the Left Front in Tripura, tribal hunting cocks, following disintegration of TUJS, the INPT, the NCT, the splinter group IPFT(Tipraha), all these parties have announced the fielding of their respective candidates for the ensuing assembly polls. The INPT, allied with NCT announced the names of their candidates for 14 seats. The IPFT(Tripaha) has announced earlier the names of its candidates for 10 seats separate from those 14 for which the INPT have announced candidates. Even this small splinter group was divided into two, with Rajeswar Debbarma having formed yet another party out of “Tipraha” announcing his own candidature for two seats, and the names of candidates for two other seats. Such splintering and re-splintering of the parties themselves that are going all-out to splinter the state, and the BJP’s desperate dependency on such parties to gain political leverage, substantiate the remark made by CPI(M) Central Committee member and CITU general secretary Tapan Sen at a massive Left Front rally that the countrywide bolting horse of the despotic and divisive BJP shall be halted in Tripura, culminating in the formation of the 8^th Left Front government.