By News On Air Jul 03, 2026
Agartala, July 3 (FD) Veteran CPI(M) leader and former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has alleged that the BJP is using the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to prepare a voter list favourable to the ruling party, claiming the exercise is intended to help it retain power indefinitely.
Addressing a public meeting at Chailengta in Dhalai district on Thursday, Sarkar alleged that the ruling party's primary objective was to disenfranchise voters whom it believed were unlikely to support the BJP, particularly Muslims, labourers and economically weaker sections.
"The BJP wants to remove genuine voters whom it suspects will vote against the saffron party. Their prime targets are Muslims, labourers and the poor," Sarkar alleged.
He claimed similar exercises were being carried out in Bihar, West Bengal and Assam, where, according to him, legitimate voters were being subjected to scrutiny during the revision of electoral rolls.
The former Chief Minister further accused the BJP of attempting to establish a "fascist rule" by weakening democratic institutions and depriving citizens of their voting rights.
Alleging that a similar process was underway in Tripura, Sarkar claimed the BJP was conspiring to remove genuine electors whom it had identified as politically unfavourable.
"If voting rights are taken away, democracy will collapse. That is what the BJP is planning," he alleged.
Sarkar also claimed that the BJP would not have returned to power in the 2023 Tripura Assembly elections without what he described as the "covert support" of the Tipra Motha Party (TMP).
He further criticised the RSS and the VHP, alleging that after the BJP assumed office in Tripura in 2018, both organisations had sought to create divisions between Hindus and Muslims.
Calling upon people to unite against the ruling party, Sarkar urged citizens to launch democratic protests against what he described as the BJP government's anti-people policies, alleging that unemployment, law and order concerns and corruption continued to plague the state. FD JK