By Firstdespatch Desk May 19, 2023
Agartala, May 19 (FD) The two opposition parties CPI (M) and Tipra Motha are now at loggerhead over the political issues after a small stint of their political honeymoon before the February 16 elections.
Former Tripura Chief Minister and CPI(M) politburo member Manik Sarkar in a party meeting said, "The kings have ruled Tripura for 1,300 years depending on the tax collected from erstwhile Chaklarosanabad (now in Bangladesh). Except building a (Ujjayanta) palace in Agartala they did precious little.
However, the historical evidences suggest that the Manikya dynasty was formed in Tripura in fourteen century and they ruled the princely state for about six hundred years.
Addressing a party meeting at Sonamura in Sipahijala district on Thursday, the veteran communist leader said, the Manikya kings had only opened some schools in the names of kings and queens and dug some lakes.
Sarkar even blamed the kings for making an understanding with the colonial force (British) and ruled the hilly state by collecting revenue from Chakla Roshnabad as there was no scope of revenue from Hill Tripura", he said.
The Chakla Roshnabad was a revenue division formed with the Comilla, Noakhali and Sylhet districts of then East Bengal, where the Maharaja was a Zamindar there and a ruler in Hill Tiperrah (Tripura). The tribals in Hill Tiperrah were mostly nomads and the king hardly could collect any revenue from them.
In an oblique reference to Tipra Motha leader Pradyot Kishore Manikya, Sarkar said now one person has taken a vow to liberate 13 lakh people leaving behind the rest of the population.
During 2023 Assembly elections, Pradyot Kishore Manikya used to claim he doesn’t need power, money but wants to have a one last fight to save 13 lakh Tiprasa people.
"How come one individual says nothing was done during the past 75 years for the tribal people in Tripura? Who constituted the Tripura Tribal Autonomous District Council (TTAADC)? It was the Left which introduced reservation for the indigenous people from education to promotion. Several hundred schools and colleges were opened during the Left Front rule in the state. A total of 1,29,000 indigenous people have got pattas under the Forest Dwellers' Right Act", he said.
Sarkar alleged that Tipra Motha’s decision to contest 22 non ST reserved constituencies was a ploy to block the Left from coming back to power in the last Tripura Assembly elections.
"They had put up candidates in 22 non ST reserved seats knowing the fact that they will not be able to win in a single seat. Their objective was to prevent the Left Front from returning to power. They (Motha) got only 19 per cent vote share by contesting 42 seats in the elections. It won only 13 seats out of 20 ST reserved seats", he said.
Sarkar further alleged that he (Pradyot) used to visit Delhi and Guwahati to hold meetings with Amit Shah and Himanta Biswa Sarma when the Left Front and Congress were stitching an alliance to defeat the BJP in the elections.
"Tipra Motha’s trick came to the fore when it declared candidates for 22 general and SC reserved seats just two days ahead of last date submission of nomination papers. It appeared, the ploy was chalked out a long time ago", he added.
Earlier, Tipra Motha Chief had blamed the Marxists that in their 35 years long rule the tribals, who constitute one third of the state’s population remained backward. FD JK