Former Chief Minister and CPM politburo member Manik Sarkar has urged all the opposition parties to get united to oust the BJP from power in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha election. Sarkar made the statement during a party gathering on the occasion of International Workers’ Day in Agartala, Tripura.
Referring to the ensuing Lok Sabha poll, Sarkar called for the strengthening of the political movement with the working class people and people of all walks of life to end the existing one-party rule and the fascistic ideology. He emphasized the need to disconnect the BJP from the people of the nation, who were deprived at large under the rule of fascism, and to collect collective votes from every state of the country with the ideology of establishing a democratic and secular government in Delhi.
Sarkar also spoke about the assembly election held in Tripura in March this year, where he claimed that since the declaration of the election results, working-class people were mainly targeted by the ruling party in the state. He continued to criticize the BJP and stated that to destroy the sources of income and livelihood of the people, many incidents like destruction of rickshaws, e-rickshaws, three-wheelers, and four-wheelers etc. took place. Many motor workers were barred from plying vehicles in the scheduled routes, and a huge number of rubber plantations were either burnt or cut down. In several cases, even vegetable crops were damaged, fish ponds were poisoned and looted. Hundreds of shops were ransacked, looted, locked, or set on fire, and in many areas, the BJP workers are extorting huge amounts of money as ransom from the supporters of opposition parties.
Sarkar stated that the BJP started unleashing the terror tactics out of frustration because the vote share of the BJP alliance declined to 40 per cent from 51 per cent in 2018, despite the hard efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
Sarkar’s call for a united opposition force to dethrone the BJP from power comes at a time when the BJP is facing criticism from various quarters for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing farmer’s protest in the country. The opposition parties have been raising their voice against the ruling government and have been critical of their policies and decisions. The upcoming Lok Sabha election in 2024 is expected to be highly contested, with both the ruling party and opposition parties trying to secure a majority.
