Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has accused the Congress of encouraging terrorism and separatist tendency in the North-east. Addressing a rally at the Judges’ Field, Guwahati, he said the Congress has done nothing for the development of the North-East, which has resulted in anger and frustration among the people of the region, leading them to the path of terrorism and separatism. The rally was organized by the Assam State Committee of the CPI(M). Sarkar criticized the Congress party has lost the courage to face the reality of the fact that the North-East is the most underdeveloped part of the country.

Tripura chief minister said that the imperialist policy of the United States has severely affected the country’s economy, agriculture, market and labour and called upon the people of the nation to protest against the "US sponsored" imperialism by boycotting British and American products. According to him, it was only the CPI(M) which held anti-war rallies in different parts of the country against the US-sponsored war on Iraq. The Congress could not play any role against the US imperialism, he said. The Chief Minister said that the Congress was never against imperialism and, therefore, it has no moral courage to raise its voice against the exploitation by the US. Moreover, the Tripura Chief Minister blamed the Congress for creating the problem of terrorism in his State. He also accused the Congress for maintaining secret relations with different terrorist groups in the region.

The rally, which was presided over by Nandeswar Talukdar, began with a condolence for the storm-affected people in Mankachar area.Talukdar raised the demand for rehabilitation of the homeless, and called for collection of funds in order to help the affected people. Hemen Das, the Assam State Committee Secretary of the CPI (M) also addressed the rally. He opposed BJP’s Rath Yatra for the repeal of IMDT Act, saying that the underlying interest of the BJP is its own vote bank. He said that Prime Minister Vajpayee’s dissinvestment policy implies "selling of the country’s industries ".

A list of American and British items, such as, food items, soft drinks, toilet soaps, washing soaps, cleaning powder, cosmetics and tooth pastes were published by the party, calling upon the people to boycott such items.
    
| Tripura | North East Enquirer (Headlines) | Nena Home Page |