Tripura Elections 2018: Left Front Launches Election Campaign

Kick-starting the election campaigns of the Left-Front in Tripura on Sunday, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said that the BJP-led central government has no policies for the people and is just bluffing to the public.

"Narendra Modi and his BJP are bluffers; they are always bluffing the people of India. However, people within three and a half years have already realised their bluff," Yechury said while addressing the mammoth rally at Vivekananda stadium in Agartala.

Along with Yechury, Manik Sarkar, the incumbent chief minister of Tripura, D. Raja and other leaders of left front constituents- CPI, RSP, Forward Bloc etc., have addressed the huge public election rally, organized by Tripura's ruling Left Front ahead of the upcoming assembly polls.

Stressing on the anti-people policies of BJP-led Centre and Congress, Yechury said: "The country needs 'niti' (policy), not the 'neta' (leader) to run the country and for the well-being of the people. The twin brothers - farmers and workers - would deal with the misgovernance of Narendra Modi government.”

Yechury also expressed confidence that in February's election, the people of Tripura "would give a befitting reply to BJP, RSS, Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah. Their defeat would start from Tripura".

Pointing out the communal strategies of BJP which they had implemented during the recently concluded Gujarat election campaigns, the CPI (M) general secretary said that if BJP remains in power, they will "completely destroy the future of the youth".

The BJP, which "indulges in communalism" and rules the country by "dividing people", is giving the lectures on nationalism and has been trying to destroy the ethnic and religious unity of Tripura too, Yechury pointed out.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar stated that the BJP was trying to forge an alliance with the IPFT, which, he said, was a "mask" of the underground insurgents who intend to "disrupt peace and tranquillity" in the northeastern state.

"We have to resist the conspiracy of breaking the peace and disrupting communal harmony in the state because peace is the first precondition for development.”

"Despite many hurdles, we will try to form a government of an alternative principle and of an alternative development model," Sarkar added.

Tripura Chief Minister said that while the Central government is creating an "economic blockade" against the Left Front government in the state, the BJP and the RSS are "hatching conspiracies" against the state government to destabilise it.

"The BJP has been backing a tribal based party to divide Tripura. Earlier the militants had been demanding for a sovereign Tripura and created havoc by organising violent activities for few decades. Hard-earned peace has been established in the state. The BJP and its allies are again trying to ruin this much-needed peace," Sarkar further said.

Communist Party of India National Secretary D. Raja who was also on the dais said that once Prime Minister Narendra Modi had described himself as the "Pradhan Sevak" (chief servitor) of the people, but actually he is serving the cause of "millionaires, the Adani group, affluent persons", not the poor people, Dalits, tribals, farmers and workers.

When the country, due to the misrule of the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in some states, is passing through a very critical situation, Tripura is the light, and hope for the country's people, he added.

As the assembly elections near, BJP has been accusing the Tripura government and chief minister for political attacks in the state. The Tripura government which stands for people of the state and alternative development model was always a hurdle for BJP to implement their communal agendas in the state.

During the last week, Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that “after the Assembly elections in Tripura, Sarkar would be driven out to Bangladesh”. "After the elections, the CPM cadres would evacuate Tripura and settle in other states,” added the BJP minister from Assam.

Following the row, the Tripura Left Front committee issued a statement condemning Mr Sarma for what it called “authoritarian and undemocratic” speech.

Finally, in the presence of thousands of people who gathered for the rally, Sitaram Yechury said: "despite conspiracies, ethnic division by the BJP and its allies, the Left Front would return to the power once again in Tripura and would form the government for the eighth term, including sixth consecutive term."

(Inputs from IANS)