‘Make a list of voters who don’t vote for BJP; they are enemies of development’: Tripura minister Ratan Lal Nath

The roadshow was held at Khowai district’s Subhash Park area and was attended by over 5,000 people, mostly women.

Nath was campaigning in support of Kriti Singh Debbarma – the saffron party’s candidate from the East Tripura Parliamentary seat. Apart from being the BJP candidate, she is also a ‘princess’ of Tripura’s erstwhile Manikya royal family and sister of TIPRA Motha founder Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma.

Addressing BJP supporters, Nath said, “The CPI (M) destroyed the state in their 25-year regime till 2018. Fundamental rights of the people are being fulfilled automatically without them having to raise any demands since the BJP practices pro-development politics.”

Citing an unspecified book he was reading, the Parliamentary minister said, “I was recently reading a book where it said CPI (M) is a dirty, sinful, murderer party which is expert in one thing alone – theft. Today, the CPI (M) is active at Alimuddin, Melarmath and Gopalan Bhawan and nowhere else (the headquarters in various states). Seventy percent left supporters have joined the BJP in Tripura. They have left Inquilab Zindabad and are raising the Modi Zindabad slogan these days.”

He also made a scathing attack on the opposition INDIA alliance and said while the CPI (M) is a “shameless party of killers”, Congress, which was Nath’s former party, is a party of “cheaters”.

The roadshow was held at Khowai district’s Subhash Park area and was attended by over 5,000 people, mostly women. (Express Photo)

“The CPI(M) is the third party in Tripura. Third in a class of three, which means it is the third child of a goat. They are bleating here and there. Believing in ghosts and the CPI (M) is the same. There is no ghost, there is no CPI (M). Left and Congress can never come back to power in the next 25-30 years,” Nath said.

In an oblique reference to the TIPRA Motha party, Nath said “new friends” have joined hands with the BJP and said together, all partners would make ‘Ek Tripura, Srestha Tripura’ – BJP’s slogan for development a reality.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Nath later said people are supporting the BJP for the pro-people politics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Nath added, “Sabka sath, sabka vikas has been done across India since Modi took over as the Prime Minister.”

“Tripura had a single National Highway earlier. Now, six national highways are complete and three more are under progress. In Tripura, we have completed 387 kilometre of National Highway and work is on to complete 141 km of highway. An additional 99 km will be added in 25 years. Three percent people in the state had access to safe drinking water pipelines earlier and now, 76 percent of the total population has got this facility. As much as 13.53 lakh people have got Ayushman cards, the rest are covered under Chief Minister Jan Arogya Yojana. As much as 1.82 lakh MT paddy has been procured in Minimum Support Price (MSP). Farmer income has nearly doubled compared to 2016-17. Holistic development is our main objective. That is why we are getting all this support,” he said.