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You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately. In the name of God, Go !
Biswanath Bhattacharya
You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately. In the name of God, Go !
PHOTO : Spearheading borrowed ideologies which world rejected decades back. TIWN File Photo

All are quiet in the reign of Shri Manik Sarkar, the Rt. Honorable Chief Minister of Tripura. The bureaucrats are obeying his every word as gospel of truth, police are wetting their pants at every dictum of Him.

      His compatriots in his own party have been dwarfed and have been made virtual non entities, the only one who could match him shoulder to shoulder has been sent into political banishment- the Parliament of India! The political opponents like Congress, sometimes do raise hue and cry on issues of public interest, but he chooses to ignore these small obtrusions or address these issues at his discretion. Other political opponents like Trinamool Congress (TMC) or Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) have so far not been able to make any dent in the horizon of Tripura, he has stamped his authority in every sphere of the State. Therefore, there is no reason why Shri Manik Sarkar will lose any sleep. He is in absolute peace! Tripura has become his fieldom!!  

 Suddenly, there is an explosion in the Bishalgar Block under Sepoyjola district of the state.  An internal audit report reveals that a mind boggling amount of about Rs. 17 crores has been siphoned away by his most trusted Block Development officer (BDO) of this block in active connivance of a much maligned coterie who had let loose a reign of loot of the precious central fund of MGNREGA and  had the block their personal property . And this BDO has direct access to the Melarmath CPI (M) party office.  He has the audacity of calling Manik Sarkar as ‘Manik Da’ in full public glare and his brother is an active office bearers of one of the CPI (M) organs. Therefore, there is a felt tremor in the Police in registering the FIR even. The Police was till then afraid of slapping the relevant section of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against the BDO and his henchmen.

Picture: Tainted Bimal Chakraborty (circled red) with "Manikda"

What is most unbelievable that when a delegation of Congress met the Director General of Police (DG), the DG asked the police about the hideouts of the kingpin of the looting- Shri Bimal Chakraborty, the BDO! Where are we living? The Golden era of Shri Manik Sarkar??

Blasts remained unstoppable- there is again another blast. Almost Rs. 4 crore has been looted in the Education Department by forging the signature of the Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO). This money was meant for Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) (National Mission for Secondary Education). The scheme is a centrally sponsored one aiming to enhance quality of secondary education and increase the total enrolment rate from 52% (as of 2005–2006) to 75% in five years, i.e. from 2009–2014. Though the prime suspect is one Shri Arnav Chakraborty, the cashier, a small fry, but it is rumored that if proper enquiry is conducted, a distant possibility though, many big fishes will be netted. Gut wrenching odor has surfaced in the Education Department!

Then again, there is another blast in the Horticulture Department of the State. It is learnt that more than Rs. 2.00 has been defalcated in the name of Garden Development and the Police seems to be at a loss to find out the prime beneficiaries of the defalcation.  It is not that police cannot find out the accused, they can do so easily but their hands are tied. The dictum for action has to come from the highest forum! And that highest forum has allowed itself to fall in deep slumber!

 Actually, this nightmarish corruption is a continuing one and it has its indelible stamp in every organ of the State Departments. Almost all the Institutions of the state government are in knee deep corruption and the incident at Bishalgarh or elsewhere is logical addendum to the scams of notoriously famous Dashda Block and in other Institutions .The State is deteriorating steadfastly with passage of every day.  The entire Government machinery smacks of rampant corruption.  Stark partisanship, mafia raj and unheard of siphoning off precious central and state fund do not startle people anymore. It has become a norm of the day.  And according to the Congress Party and other parties, the fountain head of all corruption is Shri Manik Sarkar himself who personally distances himself from all sorts of corruption but steadfastly and cunningly encourages his cadres to indulge in everything unholy to the society. There has not been any single occasion – thanks to clandestine arrangement - for his starched kurta to be stained and he proudly proclaims that he is the poorest chief minister in the country, though it is rumored that his spec itself costs the salary of an average employee, not to mention any other things!

 That the Left Front gives a damn to the established rules of law was clearly evident when the division bench of the High Court headed by Hon’ble Chief Justice Deepak Gupta and Hon’ble Justice Swapan Das pronounced that the employment policy followed by the Left Front Government while recently recruiting teachers has no legitimacy of law. Resultantly, there has been uncertainty over the employment prospect of more than 10,000 teachers. It has been so because the Left Front Government threw into wind all norms of employment policy and willfully deprived the eligible youths of their rightful employment to accommodate its cadres and others in the state employment roll.

The harsh slaps from judiciary are continuing ones. Hon’ble  Justice Shubashish Talapatra declared in one of his  landmark judgments that the policy followed by the Left Government while constituting the medical council was purely illegal and therefore, he set aside this constitution of the Medical Council.

Though the two matters have different perspective but what is important that both the judgments amply manifest that the Left Front Government hardly cares the rules and regulations when it comes to suit their unholy purpose.

The Left Front Government could not abide by the judgments delivered by the Hon’ble High Court and were instigating the youths that these judgments are nothing but the handiwork of opposition. They are suggesting in an inexplicit way that the Hon’ble High Court has danced to the tune of the opposition and therefore these judgments!

 There are three echelons for functioning of the Government. These are Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. When people loses faith in the two organs- Legislature, and Executive, people resorts to judiciary as a last resort. The Hon’ble Supreme Court and the High Courts have so far risen to the occasion so far as providing redress to the suffering multitudes of people and therefore any sort of instigation against the High Courts is mischievous.

 That the mischievous design of the Left Front Government is going unchallenged so far is because of the weak opposition. The opposition has so far failed miserably to highlight the unbridled corruption, stark nepotism. willful deprivation of the rights and claims of laborers and all sorts of Government employees,  the total neglect in providing employment to the eligible unemployed youths, abject failure  in improving the lots of rural and urban people! Tripura is perhaps the only state in the country where the poor have become poorer and the rich richer. Corruption has been institutionalized, the chairs of the highest functionaries including that of the Chief Secretary or the Director General of Police have been vandalized. Tripura is a pathetic case study as to how the powers and functions of the democratic and constitutionally recognized institutions can be misappropriated to whet the insatiable appetite of the ruling party!

Unfortunately, so far neither Congress nor TMC nor BJP in Tripura could prove to be a viable alternative to the well-oiled machinery of the Left Front. The people had time and again reposed their faith in the opposition parties. But every one of them has so far failed miserably. The hopes of people were shattered and the aspiration trampled upon. 

But people cannot be fooled and bamboozled for a continuing period and forever. People are aghast and screaming with anger. There may be volcanic eruption of their wreathing anger  of the unemployed,  deprived employees, artisans, day laborers etc. And days are not so far that the Left Front Government shall be completely wiped away- lock , stock and barrel in the stream of lava.

Theirs time is tick-tick-ticking away!!!

“You've become a virus

Who’s’ killing off its host

We been watching you with all of our eyes

And what you seem to value most

So much potential

Or so we used to say

 Your greed, self-importance and your arrogance

You piss it all away

We heard a cry

We've come to intervene

You will change your ways and you will make amends

Or we will wipe this place clean

Your time is tick-tick-ticking away

Your time is tick-tick-ticking away”

(The Warning: Nine Inch Nails)

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