Tripura polls: CPM’s young brigade to woo new generation voters
The party began strengthening its youth brigade by introducing nearly 50% of new faces in the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the party
With the aim to win upcoming state assembly elections in Tripura and dethrone the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura [BJP-IPFT] coalition government, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI (M) began preparing for the polls scheduled for February 16, almost a year ago.
To woo the young voters of the state, the party, over a year, has replaced the older generation with new leaders who could connect better with the younger generation.
Also Read: Assembly polls: Will CPM be able to revive its position in Tripura?
According to a senior CPM leader, however, this time, changing its electoral strategy, the CPM has dropped several veterans from the candidates’ list for the upcoming polls, some of them, including former state chief minister Manik Sarkar and former deputy leader of opposition Badal Chaudhary and instead, has nominated new faces in half of the constituencies.
To lead the party in the upcoming state assembly elections, the CPM appointed former MP Jitendra Chaudhury as head of the state unit and under his leadership, the party began strengthening its youth brigade by introducing nearly 50% of new faces in the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the party.
The party in the upcoming polls has decided to take on the agendas which were promised by the BJP in 2018 but never fulfilled.
“We have again established the connection with the people of Tripura which has seen unemployment, corruption, fascist attacks, and drugs since BJP formed the government. We are addressing these issues to people,” said DYFI chief Palash Bhowmik.
Senior CPM leader and former minister Pabitra Kar said the party also organised a month-long mass movement throughout the state highlighting alleged deprivation of people in different sectors, including food, drinking water, employment, education, health and others.
Against all these issues, the CPM-led Left Front released its manifesto on Friday and promised 2.5 lakh new jobs, re-employment of the retrenched 10,323 school teachers, dearness allowance to the government employees twice a year, re-introduction of old pension scheme and more autonomy to Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).
Moreover, the party has allied with Congress this time and agreed on a sharing formula for the February 16 Tripura assembly polls according to which the Congress will contest 13 and the Left remaining 47 seats.
As per the seat-sharing agreement, the Left has fielded 47 candidates with 43 for CPM, one seat each for the Communist Party of India (CPI), Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party (India).
According to Chaudhury, the CPM and Congress will together announce its common minimum programme and will also have a joint campaign.
Also Read: CPI(M) promises ‘no revenge violence’ in Tripura if voted to power
Political experts feel that unfulfilled poll promises of the BJP especially in the case of employment of youths, education, re-employment of 10,323 sacked teachers etc., have paved a way for the need for an alternative government in the state.
Reacting to this, BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya said, “The Left Front is the sole responsible for the 10,323 sacked teachers’ fate. They have the faith of people already and that’s why they were thrown out in 2018. The same thing will happen this time.”
“This poll is vital for the Left to regain their lost foothold in the state. A section of grassroots people are in favour of the Left-Congress alliance only to end the BJP rule,” said senior political analyst S Bhattacharya.
Polling in Tripura will take place on February 16 and votes will be counted on March 2 with that of Meghalaya and Nagaland.
