Tripura Guv skips parts of Assembly speech, opposition protests

Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy on Friday refused to read out some portion of his written speech having criticism of the Centre, in the Assembly on the opening day of the budget session, which led to uproarious scenes.

While reading the written speech, the Governor said “I have read out two pages and now I would read out after para 95.”

On which the Opposition Trinamool Congress members led by Sudip Roy Burman asked the Governor, “Why should you not read out the total speech? We are not opposing you. This is not the convention.”

The MLAs then rushed to the well of the house and shouted slogans like ‘shame’, ‘shame’.

The ruling Left Front members, however, did not react. The governor read out the rest of his written speech and left the Assembly House.

The governor did not read out the portion which stated, “Communal situation in the country is tense. Minorities and Dalits are under attack and intolerance is increasing. This is what is causing harm to peace, tranquillity, and sense of integrity which is very important for the advancement of the country.”

“Dismantling the erstwhile Planning Commission has caused financial constraints to special category states, more particularly small, North Eastern states like Tripura with limited internal resources,” the written speech said.

“Due to non-functioning of the consultative mechanism between the centre and states, the trend of one party rule is increasing. Thus, the federal structure in the country is virtually under jeopardy,” it said.

“Farmers are not getting remunerative prices of their produce; as a result suicide among farmers have been increasing for the past three years,” it added.

“Demonetisation has paralysed the financial transactions, as over 85 per cent of currency in circulation has been rendered in one stroke. It has caused immense hardship to the common people,” the speech said.

CPI(M) state secretary Bijan Dhar declined to comment saying that he is not a member of the House.

Roy Burman said, “What astonished me is the silence of the ruling party members. They kept mum because the government led by Manik Sarkar did not want to annoy the Modi government because the Centre is well aware about corruption of this government and its involvement in chit fund scams.

“What was the reason for the decision? The reason is that in the governor’s speech, the role of the NDA government was sharply criticised, so, he skipped that portion,” the TMC leader said.