Agartala: The 2023 Tripura polls have not just seen the rise of regional party TIPRA Motha as a principal opposition in the state assembly but also dealt a major blow to the CPI-M. The ruling force before 2018 now stands distant third.
The party, which ruled Tripura for 25 long years in a row, could not even retain some of its strongholds in the just concluded elections and the party was restricted to only 11 seats out of 60 total seats —a sharp decline from 15 if compared to 2018 performance.
The vote share of the party also reduced dramatically from above 40 percent to 24 percent in the elections, indicating that the Left’s grip in Tripura was loosening fast.
The party, however, feels that as a huge amount of black money was pumped in during the elections and due to misuse of the state power as well as division of votes, the opposition parties failed to stop the BJP’s winning chariot despite the fact that the majority of voters voted against it.
Speaking exclusively to EastMojo, CPI-M Legislature Party chief Jitendra Choudhury claimed that even though a particular political party joined the chorus against BJP, an impartial look at the poll results suggests that because of that party, the BJP clinched the much-needed victory.
According to Choudhury, TIPRA Motha party led by royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarman must come out clean and clarify their stand as to what prompted them to field candidates in constituencies where the prospect of a win was zero.
“We thought all the opposition parties had a common goal of defeating the BJP. The saffron party is against the interest of indigenous people. Last five years, the BJP-IPFT government did not fulfill a single promise they made before the polls. This government is found to be the biggest enemy of the indigenous people of the state. TIPRA Motha got elected to the ADC. Constitutionally, being the ruling party in the ADC they are entitled to certain benefits, but this government had always left the ADC in the lurch. Village committee polls are not conducted even after two years. They are supposed to get all support, share of the taxes, and share of 15th finance commission from the state and Centre, but nothing happened at all. The behavior of the government towards ADC should not be judged as anything less than an embargo against the tribal people,” he claimed.
Naturally, he said, having suffered so much in the hands of BJP, TIPRA Motha upped the ante against the BJP and openly called for its ouster. The Congress, CPIM and TIPRA Motha all have one intention in common: The power should be transferred to a political force that respects the Constitution of India and works for the welfare of underprivileged sections of the society.
“Now if you see the calculation or the poll arithmetic emerging after the results, anyone with the simplest knowledge of mathematics can tell you that it was because TIPRA Motha the opposition candidates have been defeated in many areas. Well, they have fielded candidates in 20 seats which are considered to be their stronghold and they have every right to do that. But what is the reason behind fielding candidates where they don’t have any possibility of a win? The questions being raised by the common masses on their role should be clarified by them only,” Choudhury said.
However, Choudhury was not wholly disappointed with the results. The CPI-M sees a silver lining of optimism in the voting patterns. “We are yet to conclude our poll analysis but I can tell you, the democratic forces have been successful in reducing the BJP’s vote share on a large scale. More than 60 percent of the voters have voted against the BJP and IPFT coalition. But in our democracy, numbers are the yardstick and BJP has it today. It doesn’t mean that the struggle with democratic forces ended here. People might have failed to achieve what they expected in one election. A lesson will be learnt and we must move forward and get ready for the forthcoming battles,” the CPI-M leader said.
On being asked about the incidents of post-poll violence, he said, people will give the final verdict. There was no enthusiasm among the public after BJP returned to power. And, soon after the results, the ruling party resorted to the same sort of practices like violence, extortion and intimidation, some of the key reasons why BJP got isolated from the public. The police stations are now inactive and miscreants are enjoying their field days.
Taking a dig at TIPRA, he said, “A particular political party once said they will not bow down or go for an understanding if they don’t get a written assurance. And, now they are the ones who are silent against the atrocities on people. Things will not go like this. People will dictate the terms in due course of time neither Left nor Right is above the people.”
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On being asked whether former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar will contest by-election from Dhanpur, Choudhury said, “We were in the second position in the assembly polls while BJP emerged first at the cost of huge black money, intimidation and terror. We shall put our candidates for sure in the by-poll but no decision has been taken on who is going to fight the polls. Our former CM Manik Sarkar, who had served as an MLA from the constituency for five times in a row, wants to contest that will only be a positive development for us. The matter will certainly be discussed in the party’s appropriate forums.”
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