Agartala, April 7:A day after veteran Kerala leader M.A. Baby was appointed as the new General Secretary of the CPIM from the 24th Party Congress in Tamil Nadu, former Tripura Chief Minister and Lok Sabha MP Biplab Kumar Deb launched a scathing attack on opposition parties, claiming that neither the CPIM nor the Congress has a single nationally popular and transparent leader who resonates with the masses.
Speaking to reporters after attending a sensitization program for ASHA workers on the ‘One Nation, One Election’ bill at Rabindra Shatabarshiki Bhawan in Agartala, Deb said, “I don’t even personally know who the new CPIM chief is. I heard he’s from Kerala, but I will have to Google him to find out more, despite being a former CM and a current MP.”
Deb refrained from directly questioning M.A. Baby’s qualifications, saying, “He may be a professor, doctor, PhD, or loyal to the party, but leadership isn’t just about academic degrees. It’s about public identity and national recognition, something that leaders like Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, and Yogi Adityanath have in abundance.”
He reiterated his stance from Sunday that the Congress and CPIM have no significant future in national politics due to the absence of such recognizable and trustworthy leadership. “Congress is still stuck in dynasty politics, and CPIM has no figure today who is known across India,” he said.
However, Deb did leave some room for potential change, stating, “Let us see what the new CPIM leader does. Only time will tell whether he can emerge as a nationally recognized figure like Prime Minister Modi.”
Turning to the proposed ‘One Nation, One Election’ bill, Deb strongly advocated for the policy, saying it would help save time, money, and resources currently spent on conducting elections separately.
“It’s not a new idea. After Independence, Lok Sabha and Assembly elections were held together. It was only due to the Congress’s misuse of Article 356 to dissolve elected governments that the synchronized election cycle was disrupted,” he explained.
Deb accused the Congress and CPIM of shifting their stance, pointing out that they once supported the idea. “When they were in power, they agreed. Now, suddenly they say it will damage democracy. This shows they don’t understand the history of the country,” he said.
He concluded by stating that a unified election system would lead to more consistent governance, faster development, and better use of public funds, potentially saving lakhs of crores for welfare initiatives.
