A CORRESPONDENT
AGARTALA, Dec 23: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar condemned the anti-Bengali slogan being raised by a section of the tribal and said the demand for a separate State comprising the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council is a nefarious design by the divisive forces.
“The tribal and the Bengalis are living in this State for centuries and there is no force that can deviate us from this tradition,” said Manik Sarkar while addressing a rally organized to mark the Left Front’s victory in the civic body election held on December 9.
The major part of his speech was aimed at consolidating Left Front’s strength for another election the State is going to hold in February next, the election for 578 village committees, counterpart of the panchayat, in the TTAADC areas. The Indigenous People’s Front of Twipra, a tribal based local party is challenging the ruling front demanding a separate State and evection of Bengalis from TTAADC areas. Stressing on the bond shared by the Bengalis and the indigenous Twipris, Manik Sarkar said, “182 Maharaja’s ruled the State for 1300 years and they also invited the Bengalis for running the administration and it was the local tribals who welcomed them. The State could prosper only because the amity maintained both the section of the people.” He advised the newly elected members of the civic bodies to involve maximum number of people in the development process and not to take partisan attitude while implementing schemes. Sarkar also made it clear that his government has no immediate plan to increase tax for civic amenities being provided by the government or the civic bodies.
He also severely criticized the Central government for not providing adequate funds and said both the UPA and their successor NDA are ignoring the poor and protecting the interest of the rich people.