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Tripura Leftists bank on “development work”

Sushanta Talukdar

Opposition INPT to highlight “deprivation” of tribals

In 2003, Left Front won 13 of the 20 seats reserved for ST, INPT six and Congress one
Tripura will elect 60 legislators in the coming election

Ampura (Tripura): Fiftyfive-year-old Jogendra Debbarma brought 10 litres of latex from his rubber plantation and about five kg of latex scrap to the Akhara rubber processing centre here.

He returned home happily after getting Rs. 4,300 as income for January from Rati Debbarma, who is in charge of the processing factory run by the Tripura Rehabilitation and Plantation Corporation (TRPC).

“Before I started rubber cultivation, I used to work as daily wage earner and could earn barely Rs. 600-700 a month. Life was very harsh as we used to depend on jhum (slash and burn cultivation). The earning from the rubber plantation has made our life comfortable,” Mr. Debbarma told The Hindu.

After getting the payment he left on his bicycle to the newly constructed double-storied market in the heart of this village-turned sub-town to do some quick shopping for his wife, two sons and a daughter.

Ancestral village

During the last three consecutive terms of the Left Front government in the State, this ancestral village of the iconic communist leader and former Chief Minister, Dasarath Deb, witnessed a host of development activities.

Concealed behind the rows of trees on both sides of the blacktopped hilly road lie the RCC structures of Ampura growth centre building, a double-storied modern market, a community centre, a higher secondary school, a water supply facility, a motor stand, a primary health centre, a public toilet and a residential school for orphaned tribal children run by the State government.

In its election campaign, the ruling Left Front has showcased various development works initiated by its government in tribal areas like Ampura and sought the support of tribal voters for another term.

Election plank

However, for the Opposition Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT), alliance partner of the Congress, the major poll plank is that “tribal people have remained the most deprived under the 15-year Left Front rule in Tripura.”

“Most of the tribal villages do not have drinking water facility, there is no road, and there is no avenue for livelihood. The tribals die of starvation. One cannot visualise their plight under Left rule without visiting the tribal areas,” said INPT general secretary Rabindra Debbarma.

In the 2003 Assembly elections, the ruling Left Front won 13 of the 20 seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, the INPT six and the Congress one.

Development work

Senior CPI(M) leader and chief executive member (CEM) of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) Aghore Debbarma said the Left Front would improve its performance in the tribal areas because of the development work initiated by the government for uplift of the tribal people.

Once a princely State ruled by tribal kings, Tripura had a tribal majority till the early part of 1951. The Partition led to large scale influx of non-tribals from across the border — the erstwhile East Pakistan and now Bangladesh — and this resulted in a marked demographic change.

Polls on February 23

Tripura will go to the polls on February 23 to elect 60 legislators.

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