Agartala: Former Tripura Chief Minister and CPIM politburo member Manik Sarkar on Thursday hit out at his successor namesake Dr Manik Saha who is currently occupying the top post.
He asserted that the latter was silent on a host of questions being raised on the recent arms laying ceremony of the militant outfits.
Referring to CM Saha’s recent statement of reopening the old murder cases, Sarkar said, “The Chief Minister must not forget the history of bloodshed the state had witnessed. To weaken the foundation of democratic movement and ensure a free pass for the corrupts, the activists associated with the Left Democratic movement had been killed. Even Minister Bimal Sinha was not spared. We have appealed to the militant outfits for dialogue but they didn’t budge. You must try to get all the details of the hundreds of families who had been affected by the bloodshed spearheaded by the militants.”
Calling the rationale behind the recent surrender into question, Sarkar said, “In the last six to seven year no militant activities had been reported anywhere in the state. All of a sudden, hundreds of militants came over ground to surrender ceremonially amid much fanfare. We don’t know where they have come. Where had they been staying so long? The Chief Minister is silent. Those militant groups were responsible for the abduction of RSS Pracharaks. We are yet to know whether they are alive or dead. A religious leader was also killed near Jirania. We must not forget how a concerted campaign was launched to divide people on religious lines when the militancy was at its peak.”
The former Chief Minister also lashed out at the government for its alleged failure to tackle the law and order breakdown in the state.
Sarkar was speaking at a public gathering organised by the principal opposition CPIM. A protest march against the ‘law and order deterioration’ was also organised in the city.
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