Manik Sarkar lashes out at Tripura ruling parties over ‘poor governance, divisive politics’

The CPM leader said the BJP-led state government had failed to provide rural employment, basic healthcare in far-flung areas, leading to starvation in hilly terrains.

Sarkar accused the IPFT and TIPRA Motha of perpetuating ethnic divides.(Photo by Debraj Deb)

He said that while the erstwhile Left Front government had provided ample wage employment to people living in rural areas through MGNREGA, wage employment scopes had fallen face down under the BJP rule.
Sarkar accused the IPFT and TIPRA Motha of perpetuating ethnic divides. “The slogan calling for all tribals to unite leaves the question ‘where would Bengalees (non-tribals) go?’ Can Tripura be thought of without Bengalees? Unity among tribals and non-tribals is the base on which tribal development was started. Tripura could not have come here without this,” the communist veteran said.

Sarkar also said that while the IPFT had failed to deliver on its promise of Tipraland in the past four and a half years it was in power, the main goal of TIPRA Motha is to divide tribals and non-tribals.
“TIPRA Motha is just another form of the Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti (TUJS), which raised divisive slogans in 1967. Neither the TUJS nor the INPT or the IPFT worked on the basic problems of common people. Motha is doing the same,” the former chief minister said.

Sarkar said resolution of the crises in work, food and income and the pending issue of passing the 125th Constitutional amendment would not be possible with the BJP-led government in power. He called for an extensive ideological movement to strengthen unity among tribals and non-tribals and remove the saffron party and its allies from power.

Sarkar, who headed four consecutive governments till 2018, urged GMP activists to attract Motha supporters to the Left fold.