Tripura CM criticizes communists

Speaking at a programme here, Deb said that Communists choose politics as a profession and claimed that the erstwhile Left Front government in the state had surpassed the atrocities of the British rule as they used to exploit the people. "If the Communists had organizational knowledge or skill, the Left Front would not have been dethroned by BJP. They have literally surrendered to BJP's organizational strategy of appointing booth-wise 'pristha pramukhs' at the grass root level to look after the voters," he said.

The LF had been in power in Tripura from 1978 to 1988 and again from 1998 to 2018, when it was defeated by the saffron party. The next Assembly poll in the state is due in March 2023. ''The Communists are political traders with very little knowlege of organisation and choose politics as profession. They had created a stalemate in Tripura by blocking the promotion of government employees for eight years. BJP works for the people ... The CPI(M)-led Left Front government in Tripura had surpassed the atrocities of the British era as they used to exploit its employees and the people", he said.

Deb said that hehas steered away follow the LF's track. ''I am running the state in my own way to instil a new concept in the people's mind - transform negativity into positivity". The chief minister recounted his conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his last visit to the state. "Modiji had asked me about my observation and I had told him that there was a change in the people's mindset under the BJP rule''. Elaborating on it, he said, ''There has been a change of around 65 per cent in the communist mindset in Tripura. A complete change of Marxist mindset is not possible in a short span".

He said that the people of Tripura would not have been ''liberated from the Marxist stranglehold'' but for Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. "It was Modiji and Shahji who had brought about change in Tripura because opposition parties (Congress) were working as a B team of CPI (M)''. Those with fame have failed to bring in political change in the state, he said taking a pot shot at Congress leaders.