BJP announces rath yatra in Tripura, 7-day journey to touch all 60 constituencies

Union Home Minister Amit Shah would be visiting the state and flag off both the yatras from the two districts and would also join a central gathering point at Agartala along with national president J P Nadda on January 12.

The BJP’s state committee has proposed ten leaders to join the yatra as star campaigners, including Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha, former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Union ministers Smriti Irani, Pratima Bhoumik and Sarbananda Sonowal.

As per the schedule, the Rath Yatra beginning in North Tripura will start at 11 am from Dharmanagar while the one commencing from South Tripura will start from Sabroom at 2 pm.

Bhattacharjee said while the two legs of the yatra will cover an estimated distance of 1,000 km after traversing through 56 of the 60 Assembly constituencies of the state, separate raths will be taken out from the remaining four constituencies which would later join the main yatra and converge at Agartala. Due to their geographical locations, these four constituencies could not be brought under the ambit of the two raths.

Bhattacharjee also said his party has planned 200 meetings, 100 padyatras and 50 road shows and other events to boost the morale of the party’s rank and file.

Senior BJP leader and Information and Cultural Affairs minister Sushanta Chowdhury said the yatra has been organised to connect with at least 10 lakh people of the state.

“BJP general secretary Amit Rakshit and senior leader Tinku Roy would be in charge of the yatras beginning in North and South Tripura districts, respectively. All party MLAs were tagged with the yatra to involve all sections of society,” he said.

The rally would cover Dharmanagar, Kadamtala-Kurti, Bagbassa constituencies on the first day in North Tripura and would include a barrage of market meetings, street corner meetings. Both the raths will hold at least two rallies in each district. BJP Yuba Morcha volunteers would welcome the raths at the entry points of each district with motorcycle rallies.

The Rath Yatra starting from North Tripura would cover Kailashahar, Fatikroy, Chandipur, Karamcherra, Chowmanu, Ambassa, Surma, Kamalpur, Asharambari Teliamura, Ramchandraghat, Simna, Mohanpur Bamutia and Barjala constituencies and those in the West Tripura district’s Agartala city.

The one from South Tripura would cover Sabroom, Manu, Jolaibari, Shantirbazaar, Belonia, Hrishyamukh, Rajnagar, Dhanpur, Sonamura, Melaghar, Nalchar, Kakraban, Amarpur, Matabari, Karbook, Radhakishorepur, Bagma, Charilam, Bishalgarh, Kamalasagar, Golaghati, Takarjala, Mandai, Majlishpur, Khayerpur, Pratapgarh, Suryamaninagar and Badharghat Assembly constituencies.

The four constituencies that could not be connected are Kanchanpur, Ampi, Gandacherra and Boxanagar.

Chowdhury said, “Different leaders from Delhi would join the yatras in different Assembly constituencies. We are expecting thousands of people in all these meetings and gatherings, where the leaders would speak about the achievements of the BJP-led governments in the Centre and Tripura.”

The saffron party is hoping the yatra would be crucial to propel victory for the party based on the “performance of the government”. A host of committees and sub-committees have been formed to make the rath yatra a success. Yuba Morcha volunteers, BJP mandal supporters and other frontal wing activists would be roped in to maximise the impact, said party insiders.

“We are confident to end the yatra with a historic rally at Agartala. We are aiming to gather over a lakh people during the yatra,” Chowdhury said, adding the gathering at Agartala is expected to see a 50,000-strong rally and a road show is also expected to be held.

BJP’s mega poll preparedness is in line with a series of events, including the party’s particular focus on tribal belts and far flung districts, where it has been organising a host of campaigns, especially those against the alleged nexus between Left Front parties and the Congress.

Tripura ADC’s ruling TIPRA Motha party also happens to be in the target of BJP’s allegations of political failure and purported misrule. Recently, the saffron party had organised a series of deputations across all sub-zonal and zonal offices of the state’s lone tribal council against alleged corruption in the ADC administration under TIPRA Motha’s watch. The BJP also submitted a memorandum to Tripura Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya two days back, seeking to dismiss the Motha-ruled ADC administration on the grounds of corruption.

The Opposition parties, on the other hand, have piled heat on the saffron brigade, accusing it of religious polarisation and hate politics apart from allegations of poor governance.

As many as five Left parties, including CPI(M), CPI, Forward Bloc, Revolutionary Socialist Party, the CPIML, and the Congress party issued a joint statement earlier this week, appealing to the “peace loving democratic people” of Tripura to unite against the BJP and remove it from government.

While no official reaction could be sourced from the Congress on the issue, CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhary criticised BJP’s Rath Yatra ahead of the polls and said, “Rath Yatra is a part of a culture, religious belief and tradition in this part of the country. We don’t know any other rath yatra apart from the one held in the Bengali month of Ashadh or the one held by Tripura’s indigenous Tripuri community, when they take out a rath if someone dies.”

He added, “They are holding an untimely rath yatra and we don’t feel it is for the wellbeing of the state. We feel this rath yatra will mark the departure of the BJP from Tripura.”