Agartala, August 5:
In a sharp attack on the ruling BJP at both the Centre and in Tripura, senior Congress MLA and former Minister Sudip Roy Barman on Tuesday accused the saffron party of failing to launch a single original welfare scheme during its tenure, alleging that it merely renames Congress-initiated schemes for publicity and photo shoots.
Addressing the extended state conference of the Youth Congress in Agartala, which focused on the fight against drugs and the demand for jobs, Roy Barman said the benefits the public enjoys today under various welfare programmes are legacies of Congress governments, repackaged by the BJP for political credit.
“Seven and a half years in Tripura and over eleven years at the Centre, yet not a single new scheme of their own. They’ve just changed names—Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana became Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, Indira Awas Yojana was renamed Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana, Nirman Bharat Abhiyaan turned into Swachh Bharat Mission with a broom for photo shoots,” he alleged, adding that beyond renaming schemes, roads, streets, and public spaces, the BJP has only destroyed cultural heritage and promoted propaganda.
Criticising the “Vikshit Bharat” narrative, Roy Barman said, “One percent of the population like Ambani and Adani own 40 percent of GDP, yet they call it Vikshit Bharat. Eighty crore people still rely on free food grains from fair price shops.”
He highlighted that Congress had delivered key rights and schemes benefiting the indigenous population, including the TTAADC, Forest Rights Act, Ayushman Bharat, Right to Food, Right to Education, rural electrification, and road connectivity.
Roy Barman also took aim at Tipra Motha founder Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, accusing him of shifting demands away from the original Greater Tipraland slogan and engaging in “political drama” to woo a particular majority community within the indigenous population for electoral gains.
He urged tribal Congress leaders to counter what he called Pradyot’s bluff in their constituencies.
Expressing concern over rising drug abuse and HIV-AIDS cases, he alleged that some BJP leaders and their supporters are involved in drug trafficking with police connivance.
He said corruption has become institutionalised under BJP rule “from Panchayat to Secretariat,” and claimed that Tripura’s people, disillusioned with both the Left’s 25-year rule and the BJP’s tenure, now look to Congress for change.
Several senior Congress leaders, including MLA Birajit Singh and organisational heads of sister wings, attended the programme.
