Communist Party workers, leaning against the walls, stood or sat to attention in the sultry midday, Tripura heat, as stern-faced, tall, faceless men dressed in a crisp white dhoti-kurta entered the room. I went
Commanding the awe of the cadres was none other than 74-year-old Manik Sarkar, who had come to embody the communist movement in the Northeast, running the sole CPI(M)-led government in a difficult and troubled region for 20 long years. Before the BJP wave ended his party’s rule in 2018.
He has been following a grueling schedule for the past several weeks, campaigning on foot and in jeeps across the hills and valleys of Tripura, a state described as a ‘finger of land wrapped around Bangladesh’ Is.
Despite his age, his party cannot afford and will not approve of helicopters ferrying his rivals to the state. Nor can it allow the “old war-horse” to retire as one of his allies.
“I convinced my colleagues that new blood should be brought in… (because) I have been contesting elections since 1979 and have been chief minister for 20 years,” he smiled in an interview with PTI video. (However) I am on the battlefield”.
For the average CPI(M) worker or supporter, the government remains the ‘star campaigner’ for the entire Left Front, even though CPI(M) big names – Sitaram Yechury, Brinda Karat and Mohd Salim – were fielded Is. State.
Political commentator and former journalist Shekhar Dutta on Northeast said, “Many common people and especially his party cadre look up to him for his integrity in personal and political life, his sterling clean image.”
Just five years ago, newspapers were busy writing an obituary for the CPI(M) in the Northeast, describing the Manik government as the ‘last communist stat’.
However, the gruesome campaign by the government and its cronies to mobilize large numbers shows that the hammer and sickle at Lal Maidan is not dead yet.
Despite the defeat of the CPI(M) in the last assembly and national elections here, its vote bank remained more or less intact. In the 2018 assembly elections, in the face of the Modi wave, its vote share was reduced by six per cent, yet it was left with a vote share of 42 per cent.
A resurgent youth and student wing is propelling the party to reclaim several seats this time, which is being spearheaded by the government and leaders like Jitendra Chowdhary, the tribal face of the party.
“Anti-incumbency worked against the CPI(M) in 2018. Deterioration in law and order, political violence and unfulfilled promises are working against the BJP this time,” Dutta said.
CPI (M) leaders seem to agree with this. During the interview, Sarkar said, “This time the real fight is the fight for restoration of democracy, civil liberties…as well as (creating) jobs, increasing income and purchasing power.”
The government had earned a remarkable reputation for the state during its tenure, with a literacy rate of over 87 percent and several other health and social indicators.
However, endemic problems such as lack of industry and trade in the state, which is surrounded by Bangladesh despite being just 70 km from a major port – Chittagong, force most people to work for the state government (40 km 1.8 lakh) lakh) of the population or to migrate to the mainland in search of jobs – will remain and probably will India Get a port to the northeast.
The veteran communist leader tried to give Tripura and the Northeast the much-needed outlet to the sea by strengthening the central government’s diplomacy towards Bangladesh and offering Tripura’s share of gas-based electricity to the power-starved neighbour.
However, to this day trade and transit with Bangladesh from the Northeast remains a problem affecting the region’s economy and job creation potential.
Born in a middle-class family, Sarkar joined the communist movement as a student activist while studying at Maharaja Bir Bikram College and soon became a student leader in the college and eventually a member of the state committee at the age of 23. CPI(M).
After being elected as an MLA, he was made the chief whip of the party in 1980. At the age of 49, he was made a member of the Politburo of the party and also the Chief Minister of the state.
Sarkar spent most of his life fighting the Congress party, and with the second phase of insurgency in the state, which he successfully controlled with a combination of carrot and stick measures against the insurgents, although improving the condition of tribals is still a work in progress . ,
The Congress and the CPI(M) have certainly joined hands to defeat the BJP in this election, a fact readily acknowledged by the government. “It is true that we have fought against each other (CPI-M and Congress) on the basis of ideology… But the RSS-BJP and their fascist regime has forced us to come together,” he said.
If the alliance succeeds in turning the electoral tables against the BJP, the challenge will be for the two to work together as partners in government, possibly the first of its kind. Veteran leaders like Sarkar can then have a new role of political peacekeepers.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)