People's Democracy

TRIPURA

New ADC Pledges to Forge Development

TURNING a ceremony into a massive surge of spontaneous spirited but sober celebration of the people, the Left Front of Tripura organised on May 19 afternoon a public swearing-in function of key functionaries of the newly elected sixth Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (ADC). Held at ADC headquarters in the motor stand area in Khumulawng, the event re-charged the process set in motion by the Left Front government for peace and progress in the state. Present on this solemn occasion were, among others, the chief minister Manik Sarkar  and his cabinet colleagues, Lok Sabha members Khagen Das and Bajuban Riyan, CPI(M) and Left Front  leaders and legislators, all the 27 members of ADC and also the state’s chief secretary.

Though the swearing-in ceremony of eight executive members of the ADC lasted for a mere 15 minutes, there was a veritable flood of all sections of people, tribal and non-tribal, in and around Khumulawng. Many of them had gathered even two hours ahead of schedule in the blazing sun. At the function, in the ADC house, the elected members first elected Mongsajai Mog as the chairman and Ranjit Debbarma as the chief executive member; both were elected without contest. Mongsajai Mog is the oldest ADC member and has been elected in all the six ADC elections while Ranjit Debbarma was the chief executive member of the fifth ADC too. One notes that the same fifth ADC had heralded a new area of peace and progress in the tribal areas after the devastation caused under the regime of the IPFT, the overground outfit of the outlawed extremists, and its ally, the Congress party, after they had hijacked the ADC polls in May 2000 at the extremists’ gunpoint. The seven other executive members were earlier selected unanimously in the first ADC meeting on the same day.

The huge canopy under which seating arrangement had been made for the eagerly awaiting people present on the occasion, proved meagre for them. But exhaustion and the scorching sun were no match for their militant mood.

Heartily hailing this militant mood of the masses which culminated in a massive mandate to the Left Front in the sixth ADC polls earlier this month, chief minister Manik Sarkar said the exemplary cooperation of the people and administration had allowed the electorate to exercise their franchise in the sixth ADC polls with fear or favour. However, he stressed the reliance on the people’s constant alertness for foiling the relentless machinations and manipulations of the powers that be at the centre to deprive and debilitate the state’s aspiration for democracy and development.

Sarkar, on the occasion, assured the people of the ADC area that the newly elected ADC members would prove worthy of their trust and expectation without any narrow partisan outlook and with due respect to their constructive suggestions. He expressed the hope that the sixth ADC, in conjunction with the present Left Front government, would, with its limited means, press ahead with the Left Front policy of building the state’s basic infrastructure projects, upgrading communication system, advancing the education and health care services, developing agriculture both in hills and plains, and augmenting the purchasing power of the people. In view of the spectacular successes already achieved by the sixth Left Front government in the sphere of peace and progress in Tripura, Manik Sarkar once again fervently urged the few misguided militants still languishing in the devastative alienation and animosity to return to the vibrant mainstream of democracy and development in Tripura.

Tribal welfare minister Aghore Debbarma said the ADC in Tripura is a singular beacon of light to the country’s tribals and a towering light house among all other ADCs in North-East India. This is so because of its exemplary implementation of the ideals behind the decade-long movements and struggles that led to its formation. It is only in Tripura that that the ADC has effected and is effecting remarkable development of the tribal people, while preserving their ethnic identity and without clashing or compromising with the state’s ethnic amity. Debbarma also laid stress on uniting the people, irrespective of political colour and creed, in the state’s struggle for development and democracy. In his address, ADC chief executive member Ranjit Debbarma voiced the new ADC administration’s determination to press ahead with the socio-economic and linguistic-cultural development of the state’s tribal people with the cooperation of the Left Front government.