Agartala, Jan 11, 2025, TRIPURA TIMES Desk

Agartala, Jan 11: The CPI(M) Politburo member and former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the ruling BJP led coalition government in Tripura over the ‘growing’ unemployment and ‘misrule’ and claimed that the people of the state including the youths are readying the deck to dethrone the BJP from power.

The Gana Mukti Parishad jointly with the Tribal Students’ Union and Tripura Youth Federation on Saturday marched for Raj Bhavan Abhiyan to press for their 6-point charter of demands.

Addressing the party gathering here at Agartala Circuit House area, Manik Sarkar slammed the government over the growing unemployment in the state and alleged that the 7-years rule of the BJP led coalition government in Tripura had failed to fill up the 50,000 vacant posts as was promised earlier before the 2018 assembly election.

“Before the 2018 general assembly election, the RSS-backed BJP had claimed of 50000 vacant posts, which is untrue. They promised to fill up the vacant posts and also assured of providing adequate employment opportunities to the youths of the state,” Sarkar said, adding that this government has been playing with the lives of youths to deprive them at large.

He said, "It also promised 7 lakh employment generation in the five years. Now, the number of employees in the government sector has reduced by 56,000 from March 2018 to March 2024.”

“The BJP, which managed to come to power with the help of TIPRA Motha has been depriving the people of all walks of life, especially the poor. The TIPRA Motha, which once raised voice against the BJP has made an entry in the cabinet by reducing the vote share of the CPI(M), which was set to form government in the last assembly election,” Sarkar claimed.

Arguing the BJP’s unfulfilled promise of ensuring a minimum wage of Rs 300, Sarkar pointed out that the current wage stands at Rs 240, with an average of just 32 days of work provided annually. “This is far from the change they promised. The people of Tripura must not be misled by their hollow words again,” he urged.

“It was the Left front government which ensured an average of at least 85-94 mandays in REGA and with this Tripura was included in top 5 states in the country in terms of generating mandays,” Sarkar claimed.

On the other hand, Sarkar also launched an attack on the TIPRA Motha party and said that by capturing the ADC, the TIPRA Motha is running ‘kingdom of loot’. He alleged, ““Government employees in ADC areas are not getting salaries on time, schools and colleges are facing a shortage of teachers, and the people in these regions are struggling with numerous issues.”

The Leader of Opposition and the CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Choudhury had addressed the gathering and said that under the rule of PM Modi led government at the Centre, attempts are being made to reduce the opportunity of employment both in government and private sector.

He said, “As per the report of different agencies, at least 44 lakhs posts were lying vacant in the country, out of which around 14 lakh posts are not being filled by the present government at the Centre, following which these posts are becoming extincted.”

“While Scheduled Castes (7%) and Scheduled Tribes (15%) are constitutionally entitled to reservation in jobs, in reality, these provisions are not being implemented,” he said, adding that Group D posts are almost disappearing, and the number of senior posts is very limited.

He demanded to ensure rightful share in government jobs for the ST and SC communities and that a reservation system be introduced in the private sector. 

Choudhury expressed his concern over the delay of village council election in the TTAADC and said, “Our demand to the Governor includes conducting elections for the Village Committees in ADC, which have been delayed for the last four years under false pretexts.