Women among thousands join ‘Jail Bharo’ stir across Tripura

Agartala, Aug 10 (IANS) Thousands of people, including women, farmers, agricultural labourers and Anganwadi workers, participated in the ‘Jail Bharo Andolan’ (fill the jails movement) across Tripura on Monday in support of an 11‑point charter of demands, with police detaining more than 12,000 protesters at 21 locations across the state.

The agitation, jointly called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and central trade unions, focused on demands opposing the Centre’s economic, labour and agricultural policies. According to CPI (M) leaders in Tripura, more than 30,000 farmers, agricultural labourers, women workers and Anganwadi workers took part in rallies. They marched through the streets in different parts of the state as part of the nationwide programme.

A police spokesman at the State Police Headquarters in Agartala said the statewide protests passed off peacefully without any major untoward incident. “More than 12,000 protesters, including women, were detained at 21 locations across all eight districts of Tripura and were later released,” the spokesman said.

CPI (M) politburo member and party state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury, former Chief Minister (1998–2018) Manik Sarkar, and senior Left leaders Pabitra Kar, Manik Dey, Rama Das, Agore Debbarma and Shankar Dutta, among others, led the agitation at different locations.

Addressing a gathering in Agartala, Sarkar alleged that after 79 years of Independence, the country had not witnessed a government as “autocratic, dictatorial, anti‑constitutional and anti‑people” as the BJP‑led NDA government. He warned that if the government did not rectify itself, Left parties and organisations would launch much bigger agitations across the country.

Chaudhury, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Tripura Assembly, said that during the past eight and a half years, the people of Tripura had witnessed “lawlessness and widespread corruption at all levels” instead of development. He alleged that a starvation‑like situation prevailed in hilly, remote and tribal‑inhabited areas due to lack of employment and livelihood opportunities, claiming that the BJP government had taken away the democratic rights of the people.

Describing the agitation as a movement to “save the country”, Chaudhury said it was a warning to the BJP government to change its policies.

CITU state secretary Shankar Dutta said the government was running by “deceiving the people” and had completely failed to deliver. “This government cannot reform itself and must go,” he said.

Tripura state convenor of the SKM Pabitra Kar said that, as part of the nationwide programme, the agitation had been held at more than 1,000 places across the country. Central trade unions, students and youth organisations also participated.

Kar, a former minister, said the agriculture sector and farmers in the country were facing a deep economic and social crisis, while the younger generation was being pushed into uncertainty. He alleged that the government was ignoring food providers and the younger generation, and had betrayed farmers by going back on its written commitment to provide remunerative prices for crops based on the C2+50 per cent formula.

The Left leader alleged that promises to jhum cultivators and agricultural labourers had also been broken. He said the debt burden on farmers was continuously increasing, while the government had waived loans worth Rs 16 lakh crore for corporate entities.

“The Tripura government is also following the same path. There is no fertiliser, no seed, no pesticide and no irrigation facilities. The only thing available is the Agriculture Minister’s broken drum, which continues to be beaten, while farmers and agriculture are suffering,” Kar said.

He added that Monday’s agitation was a “warning” to the government and cautioned that the SKM, along with other organisations, was fully prepared for a larger movement. “We are informing the government in advance to start preparing for its departure,” Kar said.

–IANS

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