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Opposition clamours for President's rule in Tripura

The Opposition in Tripura has demanded that the state be brought under the Disturbed Areas Act, and Article 356 introduced there immediately.

In a meeting in Agartala on Wednesday night, the Congress, Tripura Upajati Juba Samity and Tripura National Volunteers demanded Chief Minister Manik Sarkar's resignation for his alleged failure to protect the lives and properties of civilians.

It was also decided that the three parties would sit on a strike on October 12 in protest against the state's deteriorating law and order situation. A memorandum would be submitted to the governor for necessary action in this regard.

Expressing deep concern over the 'all-round anarchy', the Opposition, in a joint statement, asked the chief minister to step down.

Besides Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee president Gopal Roy, the other leaders present at the meeting included Youth Congress president Billal Mia, Congress MLA Jawahar Saha, TUJS president Rati Mohan Jamatia and general secretary Rabindra Debbarma, and TNV vice president Ananta Debbarma.

Opposition leader and former chief minister Samir Ranjan Burman said the security forces should be given a free hand in combating insurgent activities.

No word was strong enough to condemn the brutal killing of innocents at Rankang and Mailak areas in South Tripura's Amarpur sub-division, he added.

Since the installation of the fourth Left Front government, incidents involving murder, kidnapping, mayhem, extortion and forcible displacement of people have registered an unprecedented hike. The Left front's misrule had totally paralysed all democratic institutions in Tripura, Burman alleged, observing that the total population had been forced to live in a state of perpetual anarchy.

He said if Article 356 was to be imposed anywhere in India, then it had to be in Tripura where the crime ratio was the highest among all states, and where the state government was an active abettor of criminal activities.

UNI

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