ON December 24, Agartala, the capital city of Tripura, witnessed a web of red flags elevated high by thousands of kisans to celebrate victory of the year-long kisan struggle in the country and to press for the urgent issues that the peasantry of the state has been striving hard to settle. There is no alternative to a sustained united struggle to overthrow the anti-peasant, anti-worker RSS-BJP government that has been foisted on the people of Tripura through hoax promises. We must not suffer from complacency with this impressive rally of the kisan masses who assembled here defying fascistic terror and threats unleashed by the ruling party miscreants in various parts of the state. We must carry on relentless determined struggles to compel the ruling forces to concede to the legitimate and just demands of the farmers, leader of the opposition and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Manik Sarkar told the rally.

The kisan masses threw the challenge to the government: either perform for the peasantry and working people, or face the ire of the masses that will topple you down. Amidst the euphoria of the so-called victory managed by the ruling BJP in the recently held urban body election by making the election a complete mockery depriving a large section of voters from casting vote by terror and intimidation, thousands of farmers, agricultural workers and indigenous people coming from different parts of the state thronged the city with a 10-point charter of demands. 

The organisers had initially opted to hold the rally at either in front of Rabindra Shatabarshiki Bhavan, or at Orient Chowmohani which are comparatively spacious for holding a gathering of such a massive scale. But the BJP government did give permission for neither one. As a result, the rally and the meeting had to be shifted to Gandhighat. By 11 am, almost all the roads in the heart of the city were full of protesting people carrying red flags, placards and banners. The procession, starting from Paradise Chowmohani, went through the main roads of the city and culminated at Gandhighat. The protest rally was so huge that the heart of the city was virtually seized by the protesters for hours together. When the front portion of the procession reached the end point at Gandhighat, the rear portion was still at Paradise Chowmohani. 

The mammoth rally was organised jointly by the AIKS, Tripura Rajya UpajatiGana Mukti Parishad (GMP) and the Tripura state unit of agricultural workers union (AIAWU) with a 10-point charter of demands. The demands include:

1.   Ensure supply of adequate quantum of fertilizer and pesticides through government stores 

2.   Resume SRI system of cultivation and related subsidies 

3.   Urgently restore all the defunct irrigation plants to operational condition

4.   Amend MNREGA rules allowing the workers to work in paddy cultivation 

5.   Compensate the farmers who suffered loss of crop due to recent heavy rain

6.  Ensure passage of the bill related to Tripura Tribal Area Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) integrating Kakbarok in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

The rally was attended by Sarkar, AIKS all-India president, Ashok Dhawale, CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury, Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) Tripura state convenor Pabitra Kar, AIKS Tripura state president AghoreDebbarma, AIAWU state president BhanulalSaha, leaders Badal Chowdhury, Narayan Kar, RadhacharanDebbarma, Shyamal Dey and others. At the onset of the meeting, one-minute silence was observed to pay homage to 715 martyr farmers who laid down their lives during the 380-day-long historic farmers’ agitation. 

Addressing the mass gathering, Manik Sarkar exhorted the democratic people to get united in protest against the BJP government in the state. He said the present government did nothing for the people. Condition of the farmers is worsening day by day. Instead of working with a pro-people policy, the government is busy with its divisive agenda. Communal forces are going ahead with its sustained effort to create division and communal tension between Hindus and Muslims. After the fundamentalist forces of Bangladesh committed some communal misdeeds during the last Durga Puja festival, religious fundamentalists on our side of the border started trying to create communal tension by attacking minorities in Tripura. There are a good number of minority people in the state who are farmers. The divisive forces do not want to get the farmers united, so they proceeded with their communal agenda to create unrest in the state. Instead of taking legal action against the disruptive forces, the state government has been patronising them to disrupt the communal harmony that the state has witnessed so far. 

He also said the state government has sensed its alienation from the people owing to the massive dissatisfaction, so it has unleashed a reign of terror throughout the state. Democratic norms are undermined and elections are reduced to farce. In this condition there is no alternative but to stand united against the oppressive government, he said.

In his address, Ashok Dhawale called for the ouster of the BJP from power so that the nation can be saved. He reminded that the democratic people of Tripura in the past had thrown the oppressive Congress-TUJS coalition from power. It is now time to stand firm against the BJP-led government in the state and at the centre. He also thanked the people of Tripura for extending whole-hearted support to the historic farmers’ movement. 

Jitendra Chaudhury said the state government has deceived the people of the state. They made endless glittering promises to the people through its ‘vision document’ before the 2018 state assembly elections, but did not fulfil a single one. On the contrary, they are now busy throttling every dissenting voice, robbing the voting rights of common people and organising attacks on the opposition parties. He said the common people who have taken control of the streets today would take control of the whole state in the days to come. He also mentioned that another divisive force is working in the tribal dominated areas with a fantasy of ‘greater Tipraland’. While people are not getting any work to earn the barest minimum of livelihood, the state government is busy with luxurious celebration of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav spending crores of rupees of public funds in displaying their images in advertisements.  He called for organising huge mass movement for restoration of democracy in the state. 

SKM state convenor Pabitra Kar said the BJP-led state government, through its misrule during the last 45 months, has made life miserable for the farmers. But the farmers, agricultural workers and the jhumias of the state have decided to come out of the present suffocating situation. Today’s huge rally is organised to issue a strong warning to the seat of power, he said. The rally ended with a vow to fight back the anti-people BJP governments in the state and at the centre.