AGARTALA, March 2 – The result of assembly elections in Tripura has made it clear that people of the state did not accept the Congress-Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) alliance, allegedly backed by the banned National Liberation Front of Tripura. The ruling Left Front has returned to power with two third majority securing 40 seats in the 60-member assembly while the opposition Congress-INPT secured only 19. The result of Juvarajnagar seat is withheld as repolling has been ordered in one booth due to problems in one EVM.
“It was a blunder for us to forge an alliance with INPT. Two third majority by the Left Front was not expected but we now understand that people of the plains, mainly the Bengalis did not vote for us,” said Wasim Ahmed, AICC observer for Tripura elections. The Left Front’s main poll plank was the “unholy alliance” between the Congress and INPT which according to them was backed by ISI and Al Qaida who want the secession of Tripura and to drive out a major section of plains people from the state. LF on several occasions had alleged that NLFT, the underground outfit of INPT had liquidated hundreds of leaders and activists of CPI-M mainly in the hills with a clear motive to terrorise people.
CPI-M spokesman Gautam Das alleged that at least 40 leaders and activists of the party were killed by NLFT in hilly and tribal dominated areas since the election was announced on January 11. More than one lakh people, mainly Bengalis were forced to desert their homes in Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomus District Council in the last ten years due to insurgent activities and political observers here are of the view that most of them had voted for the ruling Left Front. INPT President Bijoy Hrankhawl, an insurgent-turned-politician had at a meeting of the party’s working group in June supported the secessionist movement of the banned NLFT and opposed the state’s merger in 1949.
All the LF leaders including Chief Minister Manik Sarkar had campaigned that a party like Congress which was once led by Mahatma Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru had forged an alliance with INPT, the “overground mask of NLFT.” The LF’s maintenance of law and order in the state, particularly in urban areas and development projects undertaken by the government had also created confidence among the people, more than 70 per cent of whom are Bengalis. “I did not get a job despite having a master degree. But I voted for the Left Front as I can go out even at night .... This was not the situation 12 years ago when Congress was in power”, said K Chakraborty, a house wife here.
The opposition Congress had the opportunity to exploit strong anti-incumbency factors like unemployment, nepotism and corruption at the panchayat-level but was busy in intra-party squabbling. While the Bengalis this time rejected the Congress for its alliance with INPT, the tribals fed up with the decades-long gun culture also did not accept it, the CPI-M spokesman said. The LF had all along depended on tribals since 1950 and lost its base considerably in the tribal area in the past one decade as NLFT went for selective killings of its leaders and terrorising party cadres in the hills.
It is now clear from the mandate that CPI-M not only regained its lost strength among the tribals but also made considerable gains among the Bengalis, considered traditional vote bank of the Congress in the plains, on the issue of alliance between Congress and NLFT backed INPT. It has also come to light that NLFT, which allegedly played a key role in bringing INPT to power in Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) failed to influence voters as massive security measures were taken in rural and hilly areas blocking the militants’ movement routes and entry points from Bangladesh.
Sarkar said the LF victory showed the people’s faith in its policy. “Everyone in the state are happy at the successful implementation of the developmental schemes undertaken by us in the last five years. People also have realised that we are sincere to bring peace in the state and improve the standard of life of the people.”