With the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) village committee elections expected to be held soon, the opposition Congress party on Saturday held a major rally as a part of its 'Sanhati Padayatra' to spread peace, harmony and tranquillity in Agartala and appealed people to join 'mohabbat ka dukan' instead of politics of hatred. The Sanhati Padayatra is a part of a nationwide campaign that started on October 31 to commemorate the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Late Indira Gandhi and would continue till her birth anniversary on November 19. Senior Congress leaders, including state Congress president Ashish Kumar Saha, Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and MLA Sudip Roy Barman and others, joined the rally and claimed there has been a rise in fundamentalist polarisation in the country since the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power. "We have come to spread love as opposed to hatred spread by then. Ever since BJP came to power, divisive forces have been at work to corrupt our inclusive social fabric. We intend to counter this with peace and unity," he said. Invoking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's message of starting “mohabbat ka dukan” (outlet of love) in a bazaar of “nafrat” (hatred), Roy Barman appealed to people to reject hatred and choose love. "Congress means peace, love, tranquillity, it stands for no bloodshed and divisive forces which try to divide people on communal, linguistic and cultural lines can be defeated only through inclusion and love," he said. The padayatra covered different streets of Agartala city and tried to engage people in the Congress party's vision of 'harmony and unity'. The polls to the 587 village committees in the TTAADC were supposed to be held on March 7, 2021, but could not be held due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In July 2022, the Tripura High Court issued an order “expecting” the State Election Commission and state machinery to notify the dates of election at the earliest and complete the entire process of village committee elections, including the declaration of results within the first week of November of the same year. However, the ADC village committee polls weren't held and five months after the deadline expired, the tribal council's ruling TIPRA Motha party, which was then the primary opposition in the state assembly and now a constituent of the ruling combine, knocked the doors of the high court once again in April last year. Sources said the village committee polls are likely to be held soon, though no schedule has been announced.
