Agartala: Senior CPI(M) leader and former Rajya Sabha MP Brinda Karat on Monday claimed that the central government has begun Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to mark 75 years of the country’s Independence at a time when communal hatred is on the rise.
“The BJP government in the Centre has launched a pan-India programme called ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’. Ironically, the celebrations coincided with a situation when people having allegiance to the ruling party are spewing communal hatred among the masses for narrow political gains. All the democratic institutions and fundamentals of our constitution are under serious threat as the ruling party cares a little about the basics of Indian civilization”, said Karat in a public meeting organized by CPI(M)’s women’s wing, the All India Democratic Women Association.
Taking a swipe at the BJP for allegedly diluting the sense of secularism, she said, “Today, the word secular is an “invective” for the ruling party. Some of their leaders are asking for the omission of the word from the Indian constitution. I would like to draw to their notice our freedom struggle, perhaps, the biggest secular movement where people from all religious backgrounds and classes participated neck and neck. Secularism is not private property, the country inherited it from the founders of the nation and which is why India shall always protect secularism in its heart.”
Countering Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement, Karat said, “PM Modi in his speech said that Tripura’s name was rarely included in the national discourse that too for wrong reasons or polls. Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik said people of mainland India could recognize Tripura when the Left was in power. For their kind information, when Left Front was in power here in the state, Tripura was one of the top-performing states. In literacy, social pension, public distribution and MGNREGA Tripura performed far better than the national average and these achievements of the state were always in the headlines of national media.”
Leader of the opposition and CPI(M) politburo member Manik Sarkar also spoke on the occasion and slammed the saffron party for peddling lies to deceive people once again ahead of the polls.
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“In his speech, the Prime Minister attempted to appeal to the tribal and women voters of the state. However, he must be aware that over the past four and a half years, these two groups have faced attacks. My words stand vindicated proven correct, as there were relatively fewer women present at the public meeting he addressed and no indigenous people were present at the rally,” said Sarkar.
The former Chief Minister also claimed that the state government was using all its machinery and could not even go close to the target they had set for the public meeting during the planning stage.
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