State govt, TIPRA Motha party-led ADC are ‘good-for-nothing’: Manik Sarkar

The Left leader said there has been no change of policies in the BJP-led state government even after new CM Dr Manik Saha replaced his predecessor Biplab Kumar Deb.

Tripura Opposition leader Manik Sarkar (file photo)

In a scathing attack on the ruling BJP and the regional TIPRA Motha party that governs the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), Opposition leader and CPI(M) politburo member Manik Sarkar Saturday said that both the parties are ‘nikamma’ (good-for-nothing) and said the real problems of people were not addressed by them.

At a public meeting at Bagma in the Gomati district of Tripura, 40 km from Agartala, Sarkar appealed to the people to stand for democratic rights, secularism, constitutional rights, and protest against inflation in daily essentials.

He said there has been no change of policies in the state government even after new Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha replaced his predecessor Biplab Kumar Deb.

“Was there any change in policies on key sectors like education, healthcare, drinking water, connectivity, economy, power, irrigation, agriculture, or on the unemployment front? Nothing was done. The situation is going from bad to worse,” he said.

Incidentally, his comments come a day after senior TIPRA Motha leader and ADC deputy chief executive member (CEM) Animesh Debbarma voiced concern over BJP’s alleged silencing of opposition voices across TIPRA Motha, Congress, and the CPI(M) parties.

Training guns on the TIPRA Motha party, Sarkar said a large section of people who did not vote for the Communists in the ADC elections held last year are now suffering under Motha rule.

“They did not vote for us since we were not in power in the state government. This new party TIPRA Motha, which is asking all tribal people to unite, is having good relations with the BJP. Both are ‘nikamma’”, he said.

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Sarkar, who was the longest-serving chief minister in Tripura, said people voted for Motha in the ADC since they were quite aware of the BJP-led government’s non-cooperation with the Left Front-run tribal council administration and decided to choose an alternative for better governance.

However, the Communist leader said that under Motha’s rule in the last year, the tribal council areas are having no developmental work, and funds are not allocated to the tribal council, something which was not protested by the Motha.

“The BJP-IPFT government is ‘nikamma’, the TIPRA Motha-run ADC executive (administration) is ‘nikamma’ as well. There is no difference between the two”, Sarkar said.