AMBASSA/ AGARTALA: After the Congress and the Left forged a pre-poll alliance burying their decades-old hatchet to upset the BJP apple cart, Tripura is witnessing a never-before-seen comradery between the two sides.
This was apparent when Congress supporters, waving their party flags, accompanied Amalendu Debbarma as he sought votes at Masuraipara, a village market 82 km from Tripura's capital Agartala. He is contesting the Ambassa seat in the Dhalai district from CPI-M’s ticket.
“Not just the Left and the Congress, all secular parties in the country should unite to defeat the BJP,” Debbarma told TNIE.
“In the last election, some people fell for the BJP’s “Chalo Paltai” (let’s change) slogan. They trusted the party and brought that change but it did nothing. They have now realised they were taken for a ride. They will take revenge for the sufferings the BJP inflicted upon them,” the CPI-M candidate said.
Not just among the supporters, the Left-Congress bonhomie is evident also among their leaders. CPI-M state secretary Jitendra Choudhury visited the residence of state Congress chief Birajit Sinha in Agartala on Friday morning as the two parties launched an aggressive campaign.
“There was some discontentment over the selection of candidates but we are telling everyone that the Congress-Left are in the same boat and sailing in deep waters. If anyone makes an attempt to sink it, everyone will drown. Therefore, we must keep the boat afloat so we can reach the destination safely,” Sinha said.
Choudhury said the two parties forged the alliance to save the Constitution. He said if the BJP is to be defeated in the country, it has to be uprooted in Tripura first.
“The Congress-Communists had differences, they have differences and they will have differences. We can debate the differences when the Constitution prevails but when the Constitution is in danger, it is the duty of every right-thinking citizen to save it,” Choudhury said.
“The BJP is destroying the Constitution, Constitutional values and the secular fabric of the country. In the past five years, it used Tripura as a laboratory to come out with a model that it will use to carry out its operations across the country. So, the BJP has to be uprooted in Tripura first,” the CPI-M secretary said.
He said efforts were made to bring the tribe-based political party TIPRA Motha on board but it decided to go it alone, possibly due to some compulsions.
“Different political parties have different ideologies. However, an effort is being made to assess the winnability factor of the candidates. Accordingly, we will formulate our strategy to ensure the BJP’s defeat,” Choudhury said.
Tripura has 60 seats and the TIPRA Motha holds sway in the 20 seats reserved for the tribals. It has fielded candidates in 42 seats, 20 of them in non-tribal areas, giving rise to suspicion it has a tacit understanding with the BJP to cause the division of Opposition votes. Choudhury downplayed it, giving a sense that TIPRA Motha is trying to become a pan-Tripura party.
“Earlier, tribal parties would raise slogans against national integration and Constitution and demand a sovereign Tripura and expulsion of foreigners. TIPRA Motha is seeking solutions to the problems of the tribals within the framework of the Constitution. If its Greater Tipraland statehood demand translates into socio-economic uplift of the indigenous people, we are 200 per cent in favour of the demand,” Choudhury, a tribal, said.
Tripura will go to polls on February 16.