The real fight this time is for democracy, civil liberties, says Manik Sarkar

The communist party workers slouching against the walls of the party office in the sultry midday Tripura heat stood up straight and stopped their chat session as the sternfaced tall bespectacled man dressed in a crisp white dhotikurta strode into the roomThe man commanding the cadres awe was none other than 74yearold Manik Sarkar who had come to personify the Communist movement in the northeast running the sole CPIMled government in a difficult and turbulent region for 20 long years before his partys rule was ended by a BJP wave in 2018He was following a punishing schedule over the last several weeks electioneering by foot and by jeep over the hills and dales of Tripura a state which has been described as a finger of land wrapped around BangladeshDespite his age his party cannot afford the helicopters which ferry his rivals on their forays into the state Nor can it allow the old warhorse as one of his colleagues described him to retire from the campaignI convinced my colleagues that new blood should be brought in as I have been contesting elections since 1979 and have been chief minister for 20 years he told PTI video in an interview adding with a trace of a smile However I am there in the battlefieldFor the average CPIM worker or supporter Sarkar remains the star campaigner for the entire Left Front even though the big names of the CPIM Sitaram Yechury Brinda Karat and Mohammed Salim have been fielded in the stateMany common people and especially his party cadre look up to him for his probity in personal and political life and his straightforward behaviour explained Sekhar Dutta political commentator on northeast and a former journalistJust five years back newspapers were busy writing an epitaph for the CPIM in the region and describing Manik Sarkar as the last communist standing However a gruelling campaign by Sarkar and his comrades drawing large crowds shows the hammer and sickle on a red field is not yet dead here Despite the CPIM losing in the last assembly and national elections here its vote bank has remained more or less intact In the 2018 assembly elections in the face of a Modi wave six per cent of its vote share was eroded but the party still retained a strong 42 per cent following among votersA resurgent youth and student wing is this time propelling the party to try reclaim many of the seats it lost with leaders like Sarkar and his protege Jitendra Choudhary the partys tribal face leading the campaign Antiincumbency worked against the CPIM in 2018 A deterioration in law and order political violence and unfulfilled promises seem to be working against the BJP this time round despite their roadbuilding spree said DuttaAlso read Tripura elections 2023 schedule Important dates polling result counting details all you need to knowThe CPIM leader seems to agree The real fight this time is the fight for restoration of democracy civil liberties as also to create jobs income and increase purchasing power said Sarkar during the interview Sarkar during his term in office had earned an enviable reputation for the state with its literacy rate crossing 87 per cent besides a better than average rating on most health and social indicatorsHowever endemic problems such as lack of industry and trade in the landlocked state despite being just 70 kms away from a major port Chittagong in Bangladesh forcing most people to work for the state government 18 lakh out of a population of 40 lakh at last count or migrate to the mainland in search of jobs remain and will possibly continue till India gets a port for the northeastThe veteran Communist leader did try to get Tripura and the northeast the outlet to the sea it needs by bolstering the central governments diplomacy towards Bangladesh offering Tripuras share of gasbased power produced locally to the electricitystarved neighbourHowever till date trade and transit with Bangladesh from the northeast remain a problem which affects the regions economy and prospects for job creationBorn in a middleclass family Sarkar joined the Communist movement as a student activist while studying at the Maharaja Bir Bikram College and soon became a SFI office bearer and eventually at the young age of 23 a member of the state committee of the CPIM After being elected MLA he was made chief whip of the party in 1980 At the age of 49 he was made a member of the partys politburo and also chief minister of the stateMost of Sarkars life was spent fighting the Congress party and with the second phase of insurgency in the state which he successfully controlled by a combination of carrot and stick measures towards militants though improving the lot of the tribals remains at best a work in progressThis election of course has seen the Congress and CPIM joining hands to defeat the BJP an incongruity that Sarkar readily admits It is true we have fought against each other CPIM and Congress on the basis of ideology But the RSSBJP and their fascist rule have forced us to come together he saidIn case the combination manages to turn the electoral tables against BJP the challenge will be for the two to work together as partners in a government possibly a first of its kind Veteran leaders like Sarkar may then well have a new role to play that of political peacemakersThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever