CPM Says Post-Poll Violence Continues In Tripura A Month After Results. Will Meet With CM Manik Saha Yield Results?

The CPM delegation asked Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha to intervene and stop the ongoing attacks on the Opposition party supporters.

Source : Twitter/@cpimspeak

This Monday, a six-member delegation of the CPM led by former chief minister and politburo member Manik Sarkar met Chief Minister Manik Saha on the issue of political violence and fear in Tripura. Apart from Sarkar, the other members of the delegation were state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury, Narayan Kar, who is also the state Left Front convenor, Manik Dey, Pabitra Kar, and Sudhan Das. The delegation asked the chief minister to intervene and stop the ongoing attacks on the Opposition party supporters. The CPM delegation alleged that a section of the police administration is not doing their duty properly to stop the political violence and are instead filing cases against the victims of the political attacks.

This column has previously written about the post-poll violence in the northeastern state of Tripura. Even a month after the results were declared, there have been incidents of post-poll attacks. Not only this, even the parliamentary delegation of CPM-Congress-CPI, which visited the state to inquire about the post-poll violence, had to shorten their visit after allegedly being attacked by the ruling BJP supporters.

According to veteran CPM leader Manik Sarkar, as reported by East Mojo, one of the party supporters was lynched after the polls and four others lost their lives in trauma after witnessing the horror of the post-poll violence. Although it is a fact that Chief Minister Manik Saha has been against this violence and has issued orders several times to the administration to take action against the perpetrators without looking into any political colors. However, it is also true that attacks, although lessened, still are continuing in some parts of the state. As a result, common people living in those areas are living in a state of fear. 

There have been murmurs that a section of the state BJP itself is trying to sabotage the clean image of Manik Saha — and it remains to be seen how he contains this post-poll violence and installs faith in those who are currently living in fear.

Tussle Expected In Assam NDA Over Seat-Sharing For Lok Sabha Polls?

Assam Gana Parishad president Atul Bora, who is also the state agriculture and veterinary minister, said this week that the days after the Rongali Bihu would be important for the party, which is trying to open its account in the Lok Sabha next year. Bora also said that in the recent past, there had been meetings of the party workers at different Lok Sabha constituencies like Kaliabor, Mangaldoi, Tezpur and Nagaon. He said that there would be meetings in the Lok Sabha constituencies of Guwahati and Barak Valley too.

The regional party is currently an ally of the BJP. In the last Lok Sabha polls, it contested in alliance with the saffron party. Although the BJP performed very well by winning nine seats, the AGP failed to win a single seat. It contested from the Dhubri, Barpeta and Kaliabor seats. However, this time the party wants to contest from seats where it believes it can win. Actually, last time the saffron party allotted most of the Muslim-dominated seats to AGP, which is seeking Assamese-dominated constituencies. The statement by Bora that it doesn’t want to contest only for the sake of contesting clearly underlines that it is unlikely to accept the BJP’s formula of 2019.  

On the other hand, this week in a party programme in Dibrugarh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that the BJP would win 12 out of the 14 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. This shows that the ruling BJP is also asserting its strength. Last time the party contested 10 seats. It currently enjoys the support of the Assamese-speaking people, the tribals and also the Hindu Bengalis of the Barak Valley, which has two Lok Sabha seats. It is unlikely that the saffron party will cede any of its winning seats. It may, however, have second thoughts on the Nagaon seat for its ally AGP. Last time, the saffron party lost the seat by a narrow margin. The problem for AGP is that it has lost much of its base.  The regional party has failed to win a single seat in the last two Lok Sabha polls of 2019 and 2014. Currently, it has one member in the Rajya Sabha.

Marginalised Congress Trying To Form An Alliance With Bhaichung Bhutia’s HSP

This Tuesday All India Congress Committee secretary Ranjit Mukherjee along with Sikkim Congress president Gopal Chetri met Hamro Sikkim Party chief Bhaichung Bhutia in Gangtok, as reported by the Anandabazar Patrika. Although officially both sides haven't said anything, this meeting is seen as an attempt by the grand old party to forge an alliance with HSP.

Currently, both Congress and HSP have no members in the state assembly, which is dominated by the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha of Chief Minister PS Golay. SKM is an ally of the BJP, which has 12 seats. It is to be mentioned that 10 MLAs of the Sikkim Democratic Front joined the saffron party after the 2019 state assembly polls. Later, the saffron party won two seats in the bypolls with the support of the ruling SKM. Importantly, the main Opposition SDF led by former chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling is also a member of the North East Democratic Alliance led by the BJP. Lately, the saffron party has been assertive and has started to attack its own ally SKM.

Congress has been reduced to a marginal force in the state. The last time it won a seat was in the 2004 assembly elections. In 2014, the grand old party received only 1.4 per cent of votes while in the 2019 assembly polls, it failed to get even 1 per cent of votes. On the other hand, HSP contesting 23 seats in its first assembly polls got a meagre 0.6 per cent of votes. In case there is an alliance with HSP, it is still doubtful how much it will help the grand old party.

This year HSP has formed an alliance with Sikkim Republican Party, which also has no representation in the state. Currently, Bhaichung Bhutia is leading the Ekta Yatra to boost the support of his party. The state is likely to face assembly elections next year along with the Lok Sabha polls.

The author is a political commentator. 

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