Despite all the media criticism, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb is taking some bold decisions for the state. The government headed by Biplab Deb has decided to demolish illegal offices of CPI (M), Congress and other parties built over decades of Communist government. Earlier the government had served notices to the concerned people of these offices but they did not take any actions on it.
The officers said that “lot of government and forest land had been illegally occupied by these parties since long to build their offices”. While the opposition accepted that offices were built over government land, they argued that “these offices were built long back”. Congress and CPI(M) have alleged that the decision to bulldoze offices is a politically motivated one. Both the parties have labelled it as a step to interfere with the political activities of the opposition in the state.
Ex Chief Minister of Tripura, Manik Sarkar has not been able to stop corruption in his own cadres of the CPI (M). CPI (M) has build 99 illegal offices in the state. It is difficult to understand why the party needs more than 100 offices to carry out activities in a small state like Tripura. Congress has built over 35 illegal offices in the state. It is but a small example of the blatant abuse of power carried out under the regime of Manik Sarkar.
Recently, Manik Sarkar was in the news for his demands of a new residence and SUV made to the BJP government in Tripura. This shows that the apparent modesty shown by Sarkar during his regime was just a ploy for PR purposes. Minister of Education Ratan Lal Nath has labelled Sarkar as the “Khalnayak” of Tripura. During his tenure, the CPI(M) had stashed weapons at its party offices to unleash terror on BJP and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura. While corruption by CPI(M) party members remained under wraps due to strong censorship on the press by CPI(M) government, things are very different now with a change of government.
Media is trying to project Biplab Deb in bad light but he has taken many bold decisions like replacing the age old Marxist curriculum in the state with standard NCERT textbooks. Communist rule, wherever it is in power, starts projecting Marxism as state ideology. Statues of Lenin throughout Tripura are prime example of that. Kerala’s history textbooks are full of communist icons like Lenin, Stalin and Karl Marx. The introduction of NCERT textbooks will ensure that students are getting unbiased education, in line with the rest of the mainland.
Biplab Deb also took on perpetrators of the Saradha Group scam which included Communist party members and Trinamool Congress leaders. Hard earned money of thousands of common people was lost due to the ponzi scheme promoted and abetted by these leaders.
The initiatives taken by Biplab Deb’s government are truly laudable. The fact that the offices being razed are illegal and contrary to the law means that media houses and opposition parties can’t make their atypical hue and cry about the decision to raze the offices.