Manik Sarkar Ex CM bashes royal family for doing little for Tripura

Agartala: In a scathing attack on the royal family, former Tripura chief minister and CPI(M) politburo member Manik Sarkar alleged that the kings did little for the overall development of the state during their 1,300-year rule.

Sarkar said that they opened some schools and dug some lakes only in the name of kings and queens.
“Kings have ruled the northeastern state for 1,300 years banking on taxes collected from erstwhile Chaklarosanabad (now in Bangladesh). Apart from building a (Ajanta) palace at Agartala, they made the state did little for,” he alleged during a party event in Sonamura district of Sepahijala on Thursday.

“They compromised with the colonial power (British) and ruled the hill state by collecting revenue from Chakla Roshanabad as there was no scope for revenue from hill Tripura”, he said.
Without naming Tipra Motha leader Pradyot Kishore Manikya, Sarkar said that one person has now taken a pledge to liberate 1.3 lakh people by leaving the rest of the population behind.

During the 2023 assembly elections, Pradyot Kishore Manikya used to claim that he did not need power, money but wanted to fight the last fight to save 1.3 lakh TIprasa people.
How can a person say that nothing has been done for the tribal people in Tripura in the last 75 years? Who formed the Tripura Tribal Autonomous District Council (TTAADC)? It was the Left that introduced reservation for indigenous people from education to development. Several hundred schools and colleges were opened in the state during the Left Front regime. A total of 1,29,000 indigenous people have got belts under the Forest Dwellers’ Rights Act”, he said.
The government alleged that Tipra Motha’s decision to contest from 22 non-ST reserved constituencies was a ploy to prevent the Left from coming back to power in the last Tripura Assembly elections.

“They fielded candidates on 22 non-ST reserved seats knowing that they would not win a single seat. Their aim was to prevent the Left Front from returning to power. He (Motha) won 42 seats in the elections. It got only 19 per cent votes by contesting the seats. It won only 13 out of 20 ST reserved seats”, he said.
The government further alleged that when the Left Front and the Congress were forming an alliance to defeat the BJP in the elections, he (Pardyot) used to travel to Delhi and Guwahati for meetings with Amit Shah and Himanta Biswa Sarma.

“Tipra Motha’s ploy came to light when he announced candidates for 22 general and SC reserved seats just two days before the last date for filing nomination papers. Turns out, the ploy was prepared much earlier. “, he added.