Agartala, June 26, 2025: Tripura’s former Chief Minister and Lok Sabha MP Biplab Kumar Deb on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Congress and Communist parties, alleging that both were responsible for undermining democratic values and distorting history in Tripura and beyond.
Speaking at a program titled “Samvidhan Hatya Diwas 2025” held at Rabindra Satabarshiki Bhavan in Agartala city to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, Deb drew parallels between the Emergency imposed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and what he described as the prolonged political suppression under Left rule in the state.
“Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency for personal reasons, despite there being no national crisis,” Deb said, adding that the move has gone down in history as a “black chapter in independent India.”
Referring to Tripura’s political past, he alleged that during the 35 years of Left rule, people were deprived of fundamental freedoms, and governance functioned solely on party directives. “Personal liberty didn’t exist. Even Maoists were their ideological offshoots,” he claimed, citing the CPI(M)’s recent press note on Maoist killings in Chhattisgarh as evidence of continued links.
Deb also targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, stating, “He roams around holding a copy of the Constitution but doesn’t even know how many pages it has.”
The BJP MP further accused the previous Left-led governments of altering educational syllabi to suit political narratives, sidelining the contribution of Tripura’s royal history and omitting key aspects of Indian heritage. “If history is erased, so is identity. That was their intention,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha and senior officials visited an exhibition on the Emergency, highlighting abuses of civil liberties during the 1975–77 period.
