Amidst incessant rain in Agartala, opposition CPI (M) organized a statewide mass protest on Thursday next against ‘misgovernance’ of the BJP-led Tripura government and deteriorated law and order situation.

Hundreds of CPI(M) leaders and workers joined the rally, protesting the alleged worsening of law and order, "inhuman" attitude towards flood-affected people and corruption.

After the mass rally, which passes through various thoroughfares of Agartala, top leaders of the party addressed the mass gathering at Paradise Chowmuhani area of the city.

Addressing the gathering, former Chief Minister and CPI(M) politburo member Manik Sarkar  has welcomed the decision of Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha’s for reopening old cases of political murders to deliver justice to the violence-affected families.

He said that the people of the state expect that the Chief Minister would reopen cases of murders of 22 CPI(M) leaders and workers during the BJP rule in the last seven years. “During last seven years, no one can say that the present government has resolved any murder case,” said Sarkar.

The Chief Minister has said before the media that the government will reopen old murder cases to deliver justice. “We welcome the move. The BJP has been at the helm for the past seven years and who will prevent the chief minister from reopening old murder cases," said Sarkar  and added that the people also expect the government will "reinvestigate the murder of 22 CPI(M) leaders and workers also.

"The cases of three RSS workers, who were abducted by militants and still missing, must be reinvestigated," Sarkar said.

Speaking on the recent peace accord with insurgent groups, the CPI(M) leader said that there has been no militancy-related incident in the state for the past six to seven years, but recently, hundreds of rebels surrendered and where they had came from, the Chief Minister do not have any reply, said Sakar.

He said that  insurgents had tried to topple the Left Front government since the beginning of their arms struggle (in the 1990s), but the Left Front governments  used to tell the militant groups to initiate peace talks with either the state or the Centre but they did not pay heed. Now, they have come in numbers and surrendered arms.

“We want the government to reopen all murder cases and should deliver justice to all including those who were killed by militants,” said Sarkar.

It may be recalled here that a peace agreement was signed among the central and Tripura governments and two insurgent groups NLFT and ATTF in New Delhi on September 4 in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to end violence and bring peace in the state. Chief Minister Dr Saha and senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the state government were also present during the signing of the Memorandum of Settlement with the representatives of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF).

While,  Sarkar also slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre and in the state for "failing" to provide adequate assistance to the flood-hit people.

"One and half months have already gone but where is the assistance for the flood-affected people? The money, which was given to the state was not the central assistance. At least 39 people lost their lives while 17 lakh people were affected by the devastating flood. The state has never experienced such a disastrous flood in the past 40 years. The party wants the government to arrange adequate help to the flood-affected people immediately", he said.

Addressing the gathering CPI(M) state secretary and leader of opposition (LoP) Jitendra Chaudhury said that law and order situation of the state drastically  deteriorated and ‘Jungle Raj’ prevails as the police failing to perform their constitutional duties and now act like agents of BJP.

Highlighting the different kinds of crimes held across the state during the past six months, Chaudhury said that a small state like Tripura, records 215 cases of atrocities on women every month or around 52 per week.

Number of mob lynching cases were reported, besides recent communal tension in Gandacherra and Ranirbazar, he alleged and claimed that in every sector, once a President Colour awarded Tripura police now totally inactive due to their political affiliation.

 Claiming that people were facing economic distress after the devastating floods in the state, Chaudhury said the CPI(M) had demanded that the flood in the state be declared a national disaster to help the affected people.

He also raised questions over distribution of relief materials to flood affected people and added that before the festive season, the villagers get several mandays of jobs under MGNREGA. Currently, job card holders are getting only 40-50 mandays a year leading to financial distress in rural areas, said Chaudhury and added that the rural economy is totally destroyed and a major section of people are suffering the crisis of jobs and food.

He also alleged that Tripura has become the capital  for atrocities on women and a suffocating environment prevails across the state due to large scale hooliganism and other miscreant activities by the supporters of ruling party. He said that the state has registered 50 murder cases in the last six months, which indicated the serious law and order situation.

Raising questions on the recent mass surrender of NLFT and ATTF insurgents, he stated, "The insurgency had largely been contained by 2014 due to sustained efforts of the government, security forces and with people's cooperation. There had been no insurgency related incident in the state in the last eight-nine years. The government has to clarify how come so many (584) extremists surrender now?"

Earlier, thousands of CPI(M) leaders and workers joined the rally, protesting the alleged worsening of law and order, "inhuman" attitude towards flood-affected people and corruption.