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Journalism of Courage
Faced with the rise of the BJP and amidst rising allegations of political violence, Opposition parties in Tripura are giving signals of coming together to form a common, unified front for the 2023 Assembly elections.
On Thursday, Leader of Opposition Manik Sarkar, a large extent of whose political life as Chief Minister for 20 years was spent fighting the Congress, said he had been trying to bring anti-BJP parties together. While he added that he hadn’t had much success, Sarkar said the CPI(M) top brass had decided to let the local leadership take a call on alliance-related issues.
Earlier, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury also hinted they were looking for partners, during a visit to Tripura. Both Yechury and Sarkar, a CPI(M) Politburo member have, however, refrained from naming the parties they are considering.
Likewise, the Congress has been making noises about a strategic understanding across anti-BJP parties.
An alliance between the Congress and CPI(M) is a tricky matter for the two parties. While they have been working in tandem at the Centre, and formed an alliance in West Bengal in the last Assembly elections, for many cadres the rivalry is too long and too old to put aside – a case in point being in Kerala.
Sarkar seemed to defend the CPI(M)’s modified Congress stand in the state by talking about the BJP’s “desperation” and its “intensified political onslaught on the Opposition”. “We want to corner the BJP and its ideological parent body RSS, and intensify political activities to defeat divisive forces. All secular and democratic forces are welcome to join this political battle,” the former CM said.
Asked specifically if the CPI(M) was looking for an understanding with the Congress or the rising TIPRA Motha tribal party, Sarkar said initiatives were being taken, but any sort of alliance would take shape only before the polls next year. “The developments have not been sufficient enough to claim that the response was satisfactory. It will be clear before the polls who goes with whom… We shall try to unite anti-BJP voters. There is nothing new in it,” he said.
Sarkar added that people were “gradually gaining courage” to come out and protest against the “political violence” unleashed by the BJP. “The BJP is losing its support base and is resorting to terror tactics. They have realised that the extent of support they received from non-Left voters would not be possible this time. The BJP is also reeling under factional feuds,” he said.
The CPI(M) leader also suggested that other parties should take heed of the clashes between the Left and BJP workers. “If anyone feels that these attacks will be limited to CPI(M) supporters, they are mistaken.”
The Congress was among the first to float the idea of a front, with senior leader and MLA Sudip Roy Barman saying in September that his party would join hands with other parties to ensure the BJP’s defeat.
“An alliance will be fixed at any cost. Whatever is needed to defeat the BJP, will be done. We will do everything needed to free people from its misrule,” Barman, who quit as Health Minister in the BJP-led state government to return to the Congress, said at a party event.
Senior Congress leader and former MLA Ashish Kumar Saha said the party was of the firm view that the Congress, CPI(M) and TIPRA Motha should come together against the BJP. “Democracy and people’s rights always come first for us. We can go a long way towards achieving this. We can fight together with even good people in the BJP,” he said.
Asked about the possibility of an anti-BJP front, TIPRA Motha head Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma told The Indian Express that he did not rule it out, but any such alliance would have to be on “specific, written points”, and not merely on assurances. He mentioned the Left regime’s eventually empty promise of more powers to the Tripura Tribal Autonomous Areas District Council, which is currently controlled by the Motha.
Debbarma, the popular scion of the erstwhile royal family of Tripura, added that it is the Congress and CPI(M) which have more hurdles to mount before such a front. “The CPI(M) high command has to decide, the Congress high command has to take a call, whether Mallikarjun Kharge or Rahul Gandhi… In my case, the high command is very much in Tripura. So, let their high commands make up their mind and come to me with a concrete proposal. And we shall consider it,” he said.
On whether national parties like the Congress and CPI(M), which oppose the idea of a separate statehood, could accommodate Pradyot’s Greater Tipraland demand, Debbarma said: “Let the other parties decide what they can offer us. Not (just promise of) more powers, I want specific guarantees. But, I am not averse to the idea of an alliance. If they want our support or any sort of understanding, they have to give it to us in writing.”
About the ruling BJP, the TIPRA Motha leader said “the arrogance of power has gone to the head of the state government”. “The Centre must realise that just because they are in power in Delhi, doesn’t mean they can control Tripura.”
Indicating that support for the BJP has become a tribal vs anti-tribal sentiment, Debbarma said: “People in the hills of Tripura (read tribals) have already made up their mind. It’s the people in the plains who now need to make up their mind.”
Good intentions apart, a Congress-CPI(M) alliance will need to surmount many challenges on the ground, particularly with its own disgruntled cadre who have been fighting battles, often bloody, for years.
The BJP has been trying to cash in on these old wounds, saying the CPI(M) and Congress leaders would be insulting the memory of their dead leaders by forming a nexus.
