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Journalism of Courage
The BJP is the only party working for the overall development of the indigenous people of Tripura while the Left front failed to do so despite being in power for two decades, state Minister for Information and Cultural Affairs Sushanta Chowdhury said Saturday.
The minister’s reaction came a day after CPI(M) secretary Jitendra Chaudhury accused Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia of insulting Tripura’s indigenous population by not including their native language of Kokborok for announcements at the Agartala airport.
“Only the BJP has taken the initiative to upgrade the socioeconomic conditions of the indigenous people in the state,” Sushanta said, pointing out how they renamed the Agartala airport after former ruler Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Debbarma and announced a holiday on his birth anniversary, besides renaming two places in the indigenous dialect and providing permanent settlement to Mizoram’s displaced Bru migrants in the state.
Tripura royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma, who is the head of the TIPRA Motha party that is in power in the state’s autonomous tribal council, recently wrote to Scindia urging him to look into introducing Kokborok, the native language of Tripuri tribals, for announcements at the Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) Airport in Agartala.
After Scindia responded by saying that three languages – Bengali, Hindi and English – were used for announcements at the airport, Debbarma shared a 2016 letter by the then civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju informing Jitendra Chaudhury (then Lok Sabha MP) about the Airports Authority of India (AAI) implementing announcements in Kokborok language at the airport.
Expressing dismay that Kokborok is not used at the airport now, Debbarma wrote on social media Saturday: “What has changed from then to now! Why can’t we have our Kok borok announced in the airport along with Hindi, English and Bangla? I urge upon all to join us in this fight against Injustice”. Jitendra Chaudhary soon extended support to the post and said the Union minister’s letter to Debbarma is a “direct insult” to the state’s tribal people.
Speaking on Saturday, senior BJP leader Sushanta said the Left front always spoke against the royals of Tripura claiming that they had no role in the state’s development but have now shifted their stand for narrow political gains. “Actually, the Left Front… believes in opportunistic politics. They are trying to grab the indigenous votes in the 2023 Assembly elections,” he said.
Sharing statistics on Tripura’s crime rate from 2018 to 2021, Sushanta added that there has been over 30 per cent reduction in crimes against women compared to the Left era, while murder cases reduced by 15 per cent, dowry deaths and rape by 10 per cent each, molestation cases by 35 per cent, cases on attempted rape reduced by 15 per cent and those on harassment of women came down by 60 per cent.
“Along with the decrease in crime rate, the conviction rate has increased by 50 per cent during our regime. This has become possible due to prompt action by the police and home department,” Sushanta said, adding that since 2018, as many as 1,800 drug-related cases were lodged and over 2,800 people arrested in such cases in the state.
