Agartala: Zilla Sabhadhipati (Chief of three-tier panchayat) of Tripura’s Dhalai district along with a large number of her followers left the ruling BJP on Friday and later joined Congress here raising allegations of misrule, corruption, nepotism, and politics of violence against the ruling dispensation.
Rubi Ghosh had joined BJP before the 2018 assembly election when a large number of Congress leaders switched over to the party. She was elected as Zill Sabhadhipati of the Dhalai district in the last panchayat elections as a BJP candidate.
Talking to media at Congress Bhawan Ghosh said, “We had long been frustrated with the way BJP was running the state and after the series of recent incidents of crimes against women, massive corruption of public fund, violence, and attacks on opposition supporters, and attack on democratic institutions at the behest of the senior party functionaries and ministers.”
Ghosh said that they joined BJP only when Sudip Roybarman had joined the party and asked them to work for BJP. However, after the formation of the government, it appeared that Roybarman was cornered by the BJP leaders and most of the leaders, who came from Congress, were side-lined. And, the voice of the people has been suppressed, but recently it crossed all limits of tolerance, she observed.
“We had joined BJP to end 25 yrs communist rule in Tripura but now we find less than five years rule of BJP has become more dangerous and detrimental for the state. All criminals, smugglers, anti-socials, and frauds are getting patronized by the government and BJP leaders. So, they have to be changed in the next elections scheduled in February next year,” Ghosh added.
Meanwhile, Roybarman claimed: “We accumulated more than 40 percent votes for BJP in 2018 and formed a BJP-led government. In the next election, we shall make the BJP a party of less than 10 percent of votes. Tripura is traditionally a state of Congress and Communist with a liberal mindset but BJP destroyed it – we shall reclaim it.”
He alleged within a year; it was clear to us that BJP would not do anything for Tripura except for importing some contractors and brokers from North India. They invaded the indigenous culture and tradition of Tripura while pushing communal politics and criminalism.
“The Bengali language has been replaced by Hindi during BJP’s rule. The centuries-old cultural tradition has been destroyed by the so-called Hindu party. Whatever remains after 25 yrs rule of CPM has been eroded by BJP, thereby turning the state poorest in the country in all indicators,” Roybarman added.
