Border standoff: No allegation anywhere that China occupied foreign soil, says Manik Sarkar

His comments came a month after China blamed India for the dragging border standoff in Ladakh. The Chinese comments were preceded by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s allegations that the boundary standoff between the two nations arose after Beijing dishonoured bilateral agreements against gathering military troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

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Referring to Sino-Indian Wars of the past, Manik Sarkar said, “They came a lot inside (India) in 1960. Nobody could stop them. But China went back leaving these lands on its own. If you have heard the name of Vinoba Bhave, he was not a Communist. He said after 1960 that nobody could stop them (Chinese), that they came inside a lot to show their strength, but not to occupy. They proved their strength but didn’t suffer from ego and went back on their own”.

Speaking on the need for socialism and unity among all people, including tribals and non-tribals, Sarkar said a deep-rooted conspiracy was being hatched to stoke ethnic divide in Tripura.

Training his guns on the ruling BJP, its ally the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT), and royal scion Pradyot Kishore-led TIPRA Motha party, he said these parties were trying to create an ethnic divide among the tribal and non-tribal communities. The Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) was formed in the 1980s due to initiatives undertaken by the CPI(M)-led Left Front, he added.

The former chief minister alleged that under the BJP regime, Tripura has been gripped by crises pertaining to food and employment, with people forced to starve or leave the state in search of work. “This government does not even take stock of the situation. They made huge promises, work is zero. This is cheating,” he said.

Questioning the meaning of TIPRA Motha’s Greater Tipraland demand, he said, “What’s the meaning of Greater Tipraland actually? They are saying Manipur, Nagaland, even Chittagong of Bangladesh would be included? Would there be battles? Who will listen to you? Is this possible? Is this practical? Is this the solution to peoples’ problems? You are supposed to talk on fundamental issues of people’s lives.”

Sarkar alleged that the BJP and TIPRA Motha are hand in glove with each other. “No funds are given to the ADC, road conditions are poor, there are no teachers in many schools, no doctors or nurses in many hospitals; but no one is saying anything,” he pointed out.

TYF leader Amalendu Debbarma said tribals and non-tribals were left confused by the lofty and false promises of statehood in 2018, when the BJP and the IPFT fought together with a common minimum programme. While the BJP did not agree to the statehood demand, its poll campaigns focused on promises like the 7th central pay commission, Rs 2,000 social security pension, 100 days of wage employment, free education to girls, smartphones to youths and so on.

Though the Left’s support base among the tribals has largely eroded in recent years, as was evident from its washout in the ADC election results last year, the TYF claims people will see through their “mistake” of choosing the BJP over the Left front and would bring back the Communists in the Assembly elections next year.