TRIPURA VIOLENCE

 …And The Congress Remains Silent

EVEN as all sections of the peace-loving and democratic-minded people of Tripura have raised a storm of protest against the pre-independence day barbaric genocide by the anti-national outlawed extremists and made a strong plea that the centre mount pressure on the Bangladesh government for busting the extremist camps and immediately deploy the army in the disturbed areas of the state to combat the extremist violence, the state leadership of the Congress party has made it a point to utter not a single word of criticism against the series extremist carnage.

Meanwhile, on August 17, a five-member team of the Left Front cabinet reached Baralunga and Kamalnagar, the two villages of Khowai subdivision in West Tripura district, which had been turned by extremists into a killing field. The extremists killed here activists of the Left and democratic movements, belonging to the non-tribal and poor labouring class on the eve of the independence day this year with a view to destabilising the Left Front government by triggering an ethnic conflagration. As many as 30 innocent villagers fell to the random firing opened by ATTF extremists and several others were injured in the dastardly nocturnal attack on August 14. (See People’s Democracy, August 24 for details.)

The cabinet team deeply extended deep sympathy with the affected families and instructed the accompanying officers of the police and the administration to sort out all problems of the people of the two affected villages.

On the contrary, in a glaring exposure of the convergence of interest of the extremists and of the Congress party, the latter’s state leadership demanded  resignation of the chief minister and central intervention in the state. This is, however, perfectly in keeping with the party’s policy of protecting its political alliance with the INPT, that is the overground political wing of the outlawed extremist organisation NLFT. This is also in line with the Congress game of capitalising on the incidents of barbaric extremist violence in a bid to incite the state’s population against the Left Front government. The heinous as well as opportunist Congress-INPT combine has further intensified its anti-Left front drive after the politically conscious people of Tripura, seasoned in many a struggle, foiled the combine’s diabolic design to grab power, with the help of extremist guns, in the state assembly elections in February this year. 

As power is the one and only purpose of the Congress party, its leadership has been abstaining itself from the block level all-party peace meetings being organised by the state government since last month. The campaign has evoked overwhelming popular response, and is expected to be completed by the end of this month. The Congress party has thus been virtually aiding and abetting the extremists, as that is its sole political capital --- to the utter chagrin of its rank and file who are quitting the party in hordes and joining the leftist camp. On the other hand, the Left Front government has been pressing ahead with its three-pronged strategy of ideological, administrative and developmental campaigns against insurgency in Tripura, alongside its ceaseless demand for adequate and expeditious central assistance to combat insurgency.