the years by constructing 2400 low-cost sanitary toilets in three Agartala Municipal Council wards. “I have withdrawn Rs.20 lakh from my bank account to cherish the dream of sleeping on a bed full of money. I did it because I am not a hypocrite like other comrades who try to portray themselves as the proletariat in spite of having a lot of property,” Acharjee was heard saying in the footage. Samar is a senior member of the same CPIM in the lone Left ruled India state Tripura whose Chief Minister Manik Sarka is known as the poorest Chief Minister in the country with just a little more than Rs.14,000 in his bank account.

“I have withdrawn Rs.20 lakh from my bank account to cherish the dream of sleeping on a bed full of money. I did it because I am not a hypocrite like other comrades who try to portray themselves as the proletariat in spite of having a lot of property,”

A contrast can be easily draw in both the issues – in one hand the Left leaders are trying to maintain a neat and clean image but at the same time they are failing to maintain this sanctity among their party members. The embarrassed Tripura CPIM had at least suspended its tainted local committee leader Samar Acharjee, hours after the video footage telecast in a local channel showed him lying on bundles of currency notes and saying that unlike other leaders of his party he is not a hypocrite who pretends to be poor.

For the CPIM led lone Left ruled State the situation is just like ‘jumping from the frying pan to the fire’. Now a new controversy has come to light which is equally embarrassing for the CPIM party because the suspended party man who was shown fulfilling his long cherished dream of sleeping on a bed of cash was actually an ‘antadoy’ (poorest of the poor) card holder. ‘Antadoy’ cards are meant for those families whose financial status is even below the Below Poverty Line (BPL) status.

The Congress spokesperson of Tripura, Dr. Ashok Sinha speaking about the issue of the video footage that shows CPM leader sleeping on bundles of cash targeted Manik Sarkar, politburo member and Chief Minister of Tripura by saying that the biggest failure of a commander is when his soldiers do not obey his command and he has no right to be in that post. According to him this Government has crossed all limits of hypocrisy and corruption and the present incident is only a small tip of the ice berg. He also said that if a CPIM local committee leader can posses such a large sum of money, on can easily estimate what amount of money the ministers have accumulated through corrupt means. According to him the head of the ministry should be responsible for the incident because he and his ministry have failed to take any action against any corrupt CPIM or Left leader till date and still try to prove that the party and its people are clean.

Dr. Sinha, targeting Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who has be known for his clean image and the poorest Chief Minister in India, said that there is rampant corruption in Tripura and it cannot be compared with any other state but no one dares to speak about this because ‘the king can do no wrong’ and his (Manik Sarkar’s) white dress remains white. According to him this is one of the living examples where a CPIM leader’s family, which has been possessing lakhs of rupees, has been shown as poor but on the contrary the actual poorer sections of people of the State have been deprived of the BPL facility provided by the Union Government for their uplift. He demanded that Left Front leaders and senior party members declare their assets 21 years back and their present financial status and sources of income.  He also raised the question as to how and why the Agartala Municipal Council ruled by the Left Front had allotted so much construction work to Samar Acharjee.

In the meantime, reacting on the issue, CPIM state secretary Bijan Dhar had announced that Samar Acharjee has been suspended from all party posts as according to the CPIM party constitution, no local committee member is allowed to do any contract work. Dhar also alleged that the all India media in which there are many anti-Left houses have propagated this news to malign the image of the party. He said that these media houses should project the developmental work going on in Tripura and not such bizarre incidents which is just an accident or individual incident and cannot be generalized.

On the issue of Samar Acharjee possessing an ‘antadoy’ card the CPIM general secretary said that he is not aware of it but if he does possess this then it should be immediately cancelled. On the irregularities in allocation of construction work of the municipal council, Dhar’s view is that Samar Acharjee was allocated the work because he is also a member of an NGO that is engaged in such work. However, when asked whether the monthly salary of the party whole-timer should be increased at this hour of sky rocking price hike of commodities and to deter them for getting involved in any illegal activates to make extra income, Dhar said that it is for the CPIM central committee to decide on the issue. However, Dhar opined that it should be mandatory for the party members particularly the senior leaders to declare their sources of income and assets properly.

The two arch - rival parties have differences in their ideology and views but interestingly there is a similarity in their demands for both are demanding that the Left leaders declare their income, sources thereof and assets – now only time will reveal the result of these demands.

Pinaki Das