Agartala: A delegation of Communist Party of India (Marxist) led by politburo member Manik Sarkar on Monday handed over a detailed memorandum comprising a list of post-poll incidents of violence to Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha and sought his intervention to put a stop to the “unabated attacks and assaults on the opposition party supporters”.
A host of senior leaders, including CPIM legislature party chief Jitendra Choudhury, state committee members Pabitra Kar and Manik Dey among others, accompanied Sarkar during the meeting.
Briefing the media persons later in the afternoon, Sarkar said, “The opposition party supporters have been facing unprecedented attacks in the hands of ruling party workers. The means of livelihood are being snatched away and thousands of families are on the verge of a financial disaster because of such relentless attacks. We have urged the Chief Minister to take prompt action both organisationally and administratively to put a stop to such attacks as such incidents are affecting the peace and tranquility of the state,”
Referring to the attack on the multi-party MP team that physically inspected some of the violence-ravaged areas of the state, Sarkar said, “The team of MPs who had visited Tripura after the elections compiled as many as 1,199 incidents of violence in their report that was submitted before the Governor. They had put forth some specific suggestions before the Governor of the state but we don’t know what efforts had been made on his part. It has been 28 to 29 days since they left the state and in this intervening period, we haven’t witnessed any change in the situation. In today’s memorandum, we have listed as many as 2016 incidents of violence, which means a total of 817 cases occurred in this period. The Chief Minister has informed us that he had instructed his party cadres to abstain from any kind of violence and the police had also been directed to play an impartial role while dealing with any breach of law.”
The former Chief Minister also informed the media persons that these ghastly acts of violence had also killed five persons belonging to his party. “One of our party workers was lynched to death in Kalyanpur after the polls. Apart from that, four more people lost their lives in trauma of the violence they had witnessed practically after the elections. We have been assured by the Chief Minister that he will look into all our concerns and hence we shall wait for his intervention,” said Sarkar.
According to Sarkar, his party delegation had also requested the Chief Minister to commission an inquiry and help the destitute families who had lost everything during such incidents of post-poll violence.
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On being asked about the reason for violence even after BJP’s return to power, Sarkar said, “The BJP might have formed the government but their political strength has reduced dramatically. Even though the party saved its bastion in Gujarat, the party was defeated in Delhi Municipal Elections. In Himachal as well, BJP failed to retain power and in North East, no matter how they try to present their results, the party ended up winning as many as 47 seats out of 180 constituencies that went to polls in 2023. In Tripura, the BJP is 11 seats down from its previous strength in the state assembly. All these developments indicate only one thing: The BJP is facing erosion in its support base.”
The CPIM leader also maintained that the party had mobilised all of its organisational resources to win the just concluded Tripura polls.
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