Agartala, Feb 06: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who addressed two election rallies in Tripura on Monday, said Tipra Motha is giving under-table support to Communists and Congress

“While the Congress is in alliance with Communist party, the Motha is giving under-table support to them. If you do not want to communist rule in Tripura again, never vote for them. Any vote cast in favor of the Congress and the Motha will eventually help the communists,” Shah said at Shantirbazar in South Tripura.

He further added, “I do not know what has happened to the leadership of Motha. They are trying to help the same communists who inflicted so much injustice on the tribal people in the past.”

“I want to tell the tribal brothers and sisters, the Motha leadership wants to mislead you people to re-impose communist rule upon you. But it is Modiji who gave you free food grains for two and a half years, gas cylinders were given by Modiji, toilets are given to you by Modiji, electricity has been given by Modiji, homes have been given by Modiji, every farmer has been paid Rs.6,000 by Modiji. Have unwavering trust in Modiji. I can assure you that in the next five years, the tribal brothers and sisters will see unprecedented development,” he said.

This is the same Tripura that was once afflicted with insurgency, infiltration, drugs, human trafficking, and injustice meted out to the tribes. But in a span of just five years of BJP rule, they have been replaced with roads, bridges, a secure environment, industries, and organic farming. Most importantly the BJP government has given the rights to the tribal people in Tripura, he said.

“Earlier to get a gas connection, to get a contract, to get cheap food grains, you had to meet a card-carrying cadre of the communist party. But the BJP government has ended the cadre raj and brought in the constitution raj. We have ended tolabazi. We have ended fear” he said.

He also asserted that in the last 50 years, there is a dip of 50% in crimes against women during the BJP rule in Tripura.
“Similarly a provision of 33% reservation has been made in the government jobs for women. When the BJP took over there were only 73 Public Health Centres which has now increased to 118 during the BJP rule. The government has also added 238 ambulances to the health infrastructure,” he said.

He also reiterated the efforts for peace made by the government and mentioned the peace accords signed with the NLFT, and Bru-Reang insurgent groups and the same to give homes to 40,000 people. He also stated that during the Modi regime, the budget for tribal development has been increased from Rs 21,000 to Rs.86,000. The BJP government also provided for the appointment of 29,800 teachers posts, and 740 Ekalavya Vidyalayas for tribal students.

He also launched another attack on the communist party that the party which has all along been playing the pro-employee welfare card for politics always deprived of government employees by paying them as per the 5th Pay Commission’s recommendation. But it is the BJP government that paid as per the recommendations of the 7th pay commission. He said that the BJP government has appointed more than 24,000 people to government jobs and established more than 20,000 small and medium size industries, more than 10 lakh people have been covered by insurance, opened 3 government colleges, opened 2-degree colleges in PPP mode and Raja Veer vikram airport has been renovated to make for a world-class airport.

“We have taken many other measures for development. But we would like to remind you that in the last election, we appealed to you that hand Tripura over to us and we will lead the state on the path of peace. In the last five years, we have established peace and in the next five years we will make Tripura the most prosperous state among all the states in Northeast India,” he said.

He began his speech by paying respects to Maa Tripura Sundari, Shiv Bari, Devtamur temple, Teerthmukh, and the erstwhile kings of the Manikya dynasty and especially the Veer Vikram Dev who protected Tripura from many crises.

He later addressed another election rally at Khowai district in support of the BJP-nominated candidates.

Tripura Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha accompanied the Union Home Minister in both the rallies. Both the rallies reflected the Modi wave and mood in Tripura.

Tripura will go to polls on February 16 with and the results will be declared on March 02. A total of 259 candidates including 31 women are contesting the Tripura assembly elections.