Tripura: CITU claims trade unions’ strike had ‘spontaneous support’ of people, BJP says flop show

Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) Tripura state president and former labour minister Manik Dey said in a press conference this afternoon that people extended “spontaneous support” to the strike but BJP supporters forced people to deny the strike in certain cases.

“Since morning, BJP supporters forced people to open shops and join offices. But people have shown a clear mandate in favour of the strike. We did not resort to picketing during the agitation today and left it up to the people. They have spontaneously come out in support of the strike so far,” Dey told reporters.

The former minister also said that government offices were open due to a circular which forced employees to join. However, trains had very few passengers and schools had scanty attendance on the day.

Reacting to his claims, BJP spokesperson Dr Ashok Sinha said the trade union strike has flopped on the first day in Tripura. “They called the strike and if they are to be believed, they didn’t resort to picketing to observe spontaneous reaction of people. After people rejected their bandh, left trade unions claim that BJP has forced people to deny their agitation. This is ridiculous,” Sinha said.