Agartala, August 25: CPI(M) national general secretary M.A. Baby on Tuesday predicted growing contradictions within the ruling BJP-TIPRA Motha arrangement in Tripura and asserted that the Left would regain its lost political ground in the state.
Speaking to reporters at Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport after arriving for a three-day visit to Tripura, Baby said differences between the two alliance partners were already visible and would become more pronounced in the coming days.
“Problems within these parties will come out in the coming days,” he said, referring to earlier confrontations during elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), including incidents of physical clashes.
Baby also criticised the alleged delay in implementing commitments made to Tripura’s indigenous population under the March 2024 Tripartite Agreement, signed between the Centre, Tripura government and TIPRA Motha.
Against this backdrop, the CPI(M) leader said the Left was rebuilding its organisational strength through sustained mobilisation and public movements. He pointed to the party’s nationwide Jantar Mantar agitation involving workers, farmers, students, youth and women, as well as workers’ mobilisation in Tripura.
“The Left is becoming strong in Tripura also, Kerala and onwards,” Baby said, projecting the Left as an important force in the country’s future political landscape.
He also launched a strong attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre, claiming that the Narendra Modi government was facing increasing public opposition.
“Mr Narendra Modi and the BJP rule, its last days are being counted,” Baby said, arguing that the BJP could not maintain its political dominance by keeping people under fear.
Baby cited recent student and youth movements, including the agitation seeking the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, as evidence of growing resistance to the government’s policies. He said CPI(M)-linked activists, AISA and other progressive student organisations had played a role in the movement.
However, he maintained that merely changing a minister would not address the underlying concerns and called for a reversal of what he described as the BJP’s “anti-student education policy”.
Baby also referred to the BJP’s defeat in a recent Bihar Assembly by-election, describing it as an important political indication. He said the result showed that even long-held BJP strongholds could be challenged.
During his three-day Tripura visit from August 25 to 27, Baby is scheduled to meet CPI(M) leaders and interact with the state party organisation as part of efforts to strengthen the Left’s political and organisational activities.
