CPI(M) Chalks Out Plan For August Campaign

MEETING in a day long session on August 10, the Tripura state committee of the CPI(M) fervently urged the people to consolidate the recent gains in their ongoing struggle against insurgency and the moves to create an ethnic divide in the state. The state unit of the party has chalked out a series of plans to strengthen national integration, as part of the countrywide campaign called by the CPI(M) Central Committee from August 16 to 31. 

The session condemned the extremist killing of CPI(M) activists and supporters, government employees, security personnel, and family members of former extremists who had surrendered, in the period since the last state committee session. It also paid tributes to distinguished poet Subhash Mukhupadhyay, writer Bhisma Sahani, veteran CPI(M) leader Comrade Nandeswar Talukdar and Kalpataru Sengupta.

Incidentally, 30 people including 16 CPI(M) members, supporters and mass movement activists were martyred at the hands of extremists in the period, in their struggle for peace, harmony and development in Tripura.

Reviewing the current political situation in the state, the party noted the political significance of the split in the INPT, formation of the NSPT and the ouster of the INPT from power in the ADC. The massive mandate for Left Front in assembly elections for an all-round development of the state, the growing mass movement against the absolute corruption in and collapse of the INPT-ruled ADC administration, the landslide erosion in the rank and file of the heinous Congress-INPT combine all over the state, and the surrender by several misguided militants to return to the democratic mainstream --- all these factors together brought the above outcome. The CPI(M) has extended outside support to the NSPT whose leadership pledged to make sincere efforts towards implementation of the basic minimum programme of restoring a principled and transparent ADC administration and taking a firm stand against insurgency and in favour of peace, harmony and development.

The party also observed with satisfaction that the Left Front government-sponsored block-level all-party peace meetings have evoked massive response from all sections, including the surrendered former extremists, family members of the still misguided militants and the rank and file of the Congress-INPT combine sans their leadership. These peace meetings have gone a long way in isolating and exposing the nefarious role of the militants’ mentors in the state, the party added.

In the backdrop of the recent capture of ATTF extremists and their Bangladeshi accomplices inside Bangladesh with a huge cache of high-powered explosives and bullets, the CPI(M) has urged upon the people to bring pressure on the centre to take effective diplomatic and security measures to combat insurgency in Tripura. 

The party heartily hailed the recent decision to introduce a bus service between Agartala and Dhaka and looked forward to unanimity on other proposals of mutual cooperation. That would further deepen the friendly relations between the two countries and isolate the fissiparous forces.

Reviewing the preparations for the August 16-31 campaign, the state committee urged all sections of the democratic-minded people to participate in it and press for the 8-point all-India demands. They must also ask the centre to combat insurgency and announce a package programme for employment of the jobless in the north east including Tripura. The state committee also gave a call for a massive protest against the Supreme Court’s verdict on strikes and asked the centre to legislate in favour of workers’ and employees’ right to strike as a constitutional right.

The state committee called for observing the ensuing August 15 as national integration day, against the imperialist intervention as well as against separatism and communalism.

Expressing concern over the growing incidence of domestic atrocities on women in Tripura along with the entire country, the committee called for a massive awareness campaign to curb such atrocities and demanded stiff and exemplary punishment of the culprits. The onus for this protest campaign lies not only on women but also on men, the party opined.

Finally, the committee asked the party activists and supporters at all levels to successfully implement the ongoing programme for making the state 100 per cent literate.

TERRORIST LEADER GETS KILLED

In a spectacular success of the anti-insurgency operations being run by the police, the paramilitary forces and the people of Tripura, a notorious self-styled area commander of the outlawed NLFT was killed on August 10 morning. This happened when a head constable of the CRPF was giving that extremist a hot chase to capture him alive and retaliated with the same grenade that the extremist hurled on the head constable. The encounter took place at Takarjala under Bishalgarh subdivision, West Tripura, as part of the Left Front government’s endeavour to close in on all extremist strangleholds as Takarjala to flush out terrorism from Tripura with popular support.

Acting on a tip-off from local people, a contingent of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), police and Special Police Officers (SPOs) arrived the Amarendranagar market of Takarjala in two rented vehicles at 9.30 a m. Led by a CRPF inspector, the team aimed at befuddling the extremists for quick capture. A police vehicle with reinforcement was covering the team from way behind. The extremists got wind of the design as soon as the jawans alighted from the two vehicles. When the extremists started running off along the hilly terrain adjacent to the market, the security forces gave them a hot chase with head constable Govind Bhai in the lead. As soon as the leader of the gang, a hardcore notorious extremist called Samir Reang, hurled a grenade on the security forces, Govind Bhai caught hold of it in the air and hurled it back on the extremists, killing Samir Reang on the spot. During the ensuing fight, other extremists escaped into the dense jungle.

The subsequent combing operation in the area led to the capture of two NLFT accomplices. The head constable Govind Bhai sustained a splinter injury on the leg due to grenade burst and was later hospitalised. The state’s director general of police rewarded this entire contingent of security forces with a total of Rs 59,000 for this spectacular success.

The three-pronged strategy of the Left Front Government to combat insurgency through ideological campaign, administrative measures and development programmes has successfully been tightening the screw on the misguided militants for some time.

In a desperate bid to pick up the pieces of increasingly disintegrating insurgency in Tripura, ATTF extremists detonated a remote-controlled improvised explosive device on August 11, killing seven policemen and Special Police Officers and injuring seven others at Naogaon under Sihdai police station of Sadar subdivision. This was the second major extremist ambush on security forces in the state since the killing of 20 Tripura State Rifles jawans in October at Hirapur under Bishalgarh subdivision.

Over the last two months and a half, the Barkathal market under Sidhai police station has been under the security cover of the police since the withdrawal of the Barkathal security camp after the last assembly election in the state. At about 10.30 a m on the day, a contingent of three police constables and nine SPOs, led by a police assistant sub-inspector, headed for the market in a one-tonner vehicle. At a distance of three km from the Agartala-Simna Road, the vehicle hit the trap set by ATTF extremists who also lay in wait behind the bush since the previous night. After the destruction of the vehicle by a powerful remote-controlled explosion and the shattering of all the 14 personnel including the driver, the extremists came out of their cover and started firing at random. They also looted ten 303 rifles, a revolver and some 200 rounds of cartridges. The personnel killed on the spot included the ASI. Seven others were hospitalised with injuries, including one who was sent to Kolkata next day due to his critical condition.

Next morning, in yet another extremist ambush on the security forces, NLFT extremists killed three Assam Rifles personnel at Begunbari of Takarjala under Bishalgarh subdivision. (INN)