May 26, 2018: The Opposition parties seem to be waking up against BJP-led State Government and started organizing agitation programmes. Today Tripura Pradesh Congress supporters held a rally in Agartala to vent ire against skyrocketing diesel and petrol prices as well as other issues. PCC chief Birajit Sinha said, “People of the country stand betrayed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised many things but delivered nothing. Four years of Modi government have been a story of betrayal, of deception, of duplicity and of deceiving the people of this country”.
While Congress slammed Modi-Govt over fuel price issue in today’s agitation programme, CPIM leaders held a sit-in demonstration in Agartala and came down heavily against the State Government for its demolition drive in which several age-old Party offices were pulled down.
The situation is such that little known parties like Tripura People’s Party (TPP) and Tripura Janajati Prashasan Sangram Parishad (TJPSP) jointly held a ‘bigger than expected’ rally on Saturday in Ambassa at Dhalai district. The supporters of TPP and TJPSP raised some critical demands relating to rural life and livelihood. “MNREGA works remained stalled affecting earning scope, moreover, people are not getting social pension welfare schemes – all these have pushed rural people in dire financial condition and rural economy is in jeopardy”, alleged agitating activists.
It may be mentioned that the social pension schemes which benefited vulnerable section of the society were suspended after allegations of irregularities in the beneficiary list- prepared during Left Front regime – surfaced. Government asserted that pension schemes would start after sorting out the irregularities – only problem is that no one is sure how long it will take to resume the schemes. “Pensions remained suspended for last three months after new Government took over and it did not fix any time frame for resuming the pensions. We are suffering and for many of us there is no other option except begging”, said a widow. TPP and TJPSP rally also demanded expansion of MNREGA and increase its wage to Rs 300.
Political observers opined, both the demolition and Social pension issue could be sorted out by the Government easily without turning these into political issues. “It is true that Opposition Parties – went to slumber after poll results – have got ammunition in its arm and trying to regain the lost ground. It will be imperative for the BJP government to address the issues immediately before opposition parties galvanize their agitations.
