Launching BJP's "Jan Biswas Yatra" ahead of Assembly elections in Tripura, Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday stated that the BJP-led government in the has fulfilled Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise of HIRA (Highway, Internetway, Railway, Airways) by implementing a large number of projects in the past five years.
"Before 2018 elections, Modiji had promised HIRA for Tripura. In the past five years in power, under Modiji's leadership, Chief Minister Manik Saha and former CM Biplab Kumar Deb have kept the promise. With Manik Saha as the CM, Tripura now has both HIRA and Manik," Shah said at a rally in Dharmanagar in North Tripura.
"During the Communist's tenure, Tripura was grappling with the problem of insurgency, corruption, lack of governance and discrimination to the tribals. After removing the Communists from power in 2018, we ended militancy by signing a pact with NLFT, settled the problem of Bru refugees by signing an agreement and settled 50,000 indigenous Bru people in Tripura. We have established good governance and have taken up massive projects worth over Rs 10,000 crore to improve infrastructure in Tripura," Shah said.
The yatra was launched as part of BJP's outreach programme ahead of the state Assembly elections slated for February.
The yatra was launched as part of BJP's outreach programme ahead of Assembly elections slated next month.
"We have provided free LPG connections to 2.60 lakh women, started work to provide safe drinking water to 4.25 lakh families, 3.80 lakh houses have been constructed in urban and rural areas and work started for construction of 262km national highways with expenditure of Rs 2,800 crore. We have also set up 17 Ekalavya model schools for the tribal children and provided electricity to 1.20 lakh households," said the home minister.
Shah slammed the Opposition CPI (M) and Congress stating that the two parties have lost people's faith due to their failure to fulfill the promises. "The Communist government remained limited to the 5th Pay Commission for the government employees in Tripura. But our government has implemented the 7th Pay Commission. The Communist and Congress can not do any good in Tripura. I am confident that the people of Tripura will elect BJP again this time with two-third majority," Shah said.
In another such rally at Sabroom in South Tripura, Shah tried to play the Hindutva card by talking about abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, surgical strike on Pakistan soil following the Pulwama attack and the Centre's plan to inaugurate the new Ram Mandir at Ayodhya on January 1, 2024.
BJP is gearing up to contest the elections with its regional ally, Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT). The Opposition CPI (M) and Congress, on the other hand, have issued a call for "united Opposition" in order to oust the BJP. Trinamool Congress and Tipra Motha, another regional force led by Royal scion Pradyot Deb Barman, however, are likely to contest elections on their own.