 "Ask PM Modi why 60% voters did not vote for BJP: Ex-Tripura CM Manik Sarkar")
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader and former Tripura CM Manik Sarkar on Saturday launched a scathing attack on Bharatiya Janata Party and said 60 per cent of the electorate did not vote for the BJP and asked the people to question Prime Minister Narendra Modi on this.
While talking to ANI, Sarkar said, "One thing is very clear, 60 per cent of the electorate did not vote for the BJP. The anti-BJP vote has been divided. I don't like to mention any party's name. I have categorically made my point."
"Last time they got 50 plus (vote tally) but now it has gone down to 40 and their seats have also gone down. Why so, ask the Prime Minister. Muscle power, money power, and a large chunk of media were also with them. The central and state government offices were misused. They have just managed the majority numerically. This is not good for them," Sarkar added.
Sarkar further stated that the results of the Tripura Assembly polls were "unexpected" and alleged that the polls were converted to a "farce".
The former Tripura CM said, "It is unexpected as the government's performance was zero, democracy was attacked and the electorate's right to exercise franchise freely was snatched away. The polls were converted to a farce, and the Constitution didn't work."
"The secular fabric of a state was destroyed. Because of all of this minorities were put under severe mental pressure. The crimes against mothers and sisters are rising like anything. On the other hand, the economic situation is very very bad. It is turning worse. There is no work, no income, and rampant starvation. In tribal areas in some pockets, parents are forced to sell their offspring," he added.
On the Congress-Left alliance failing in Tripura, he said, "It was not an alliance but a seat adjustment. The Congress and Left arrangement will get many more seats."
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Attacking Mamata Banerjee led-Trinamool Congress, he said, "I want to ask what is Mamata Banerjee doing in West Bengal? TMC is destroying democracy there. Corruption is rising. Who does not know the things done by TMC leaders? BJP would not have won in two to three seats if TMC's vote was not there. TMC came to help the BJP."
The former Tripura CM also targeted the post-poll violence in the state and said, "Post-poll violence started in the counting hall. That has spread throughout the state. Police are not doing any work. There must be instructions from the top. I will not blame the police. It is inhuman and barbaric. This is a dismal performance for the BJP."
Notably, in the recently held Tripura Assembly election, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power by winning an absolute majority.
According to the Election Commission of India, BJP won 32 seats with a vote share of around 39 per cent.
Tipra Motha Party came second, winning 13 seats. Communist Party of India (Marxist) got 11 seats while Congress bagged three seats. The Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) managed to open its account by winning one seat.
The CPI(M) and the Congress, arch rivals in Kerala, came together in the Northeast this time in a bid to oust the BJP from power. The combined vote share of CPI(M) and Congress remained around 33 per cent.
The BJP, which had never won a single seat in Tripura before 2018, stormed to power in the last election in alliance with IPFT and ousted the Left Front which had been in power in the border state for 35 years since 1978.
The BJP contested on 55 seats and its ally, IPFT, on six seats. But both allies had fielded candidates in the Ampinagar constituency in the Gomati district.
The Left contested on 47 and Congress on 13 seats, respectively. Of the total 47 seats, the CPM contested 43 seats while the Forward Bloc, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) contested one seat each.
The CPI(M)-led Left Front ruled the state for nearly four decades, with a gap between 1988 and 1993, when the Congress was in power but this time both parties joined hands with the intention to oust BJP from power.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)