Agartala: The regime change in Tripura can now be felt on the streets of Agartala. First the statue of Lenin was brought down, and now the new BJP-led government has done away with two other Left icons - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Their names have been wiped off the Marx-Engels Sarani (or street) and it has been renamed after BJP ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee.
Marx-Engels Sarani was the name of the road that leads to the official residences of the Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and his cabinet ministers in Agartala. The previous Left government led by Manik Sarkar had named the road after the Marxist stalwarts 20 years ago.
The order to change the name to Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Road was issued by the Department of Urban Development, a portfolio held Biplab Deb himself.
Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) commissioner Sailesh Kumar Jadav said the order was passed on Monday and the plaque bearing the road's old name was removed on Tuesday. The name of the Jan Sangh founder was written in English, Bengali, Hindi and the Tripuri people's Kokborok language on the new board.
Tripura BJP spokesperson Mrinal Kanti Deb said that Marx and Engels contributed in no way to India or Tripura’s progress. “In 1950, when several lakh Bengali refugees moved from East Pakistan to Tripura, the first national leader to visit the state was Syama Prasad Mookerjee,” he said.
Calling it a political stunt, the Congress said that such acts prove there is no difference between the BJP and CPI (M). Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) spokesperson, Tapas Dey, said that the road should have been renamed after Maharaja Bir Bikram as it was he who had taken the first step to rehabilitate refugees in Tripura.
“BJP and CPI (M) are two sides of the same coin. Renaming of roads will not help the people, so far as economy is concerned. This is just a political stunt to divert people’s attention from basic issues like employment, drinking water problem in hill areas, among other things,” said Dey.
The CPI(M) condemned the act and called it ‘unethical’.
“The name of this road was given long back in 1998. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels are visionaries for the entire world. The government has changed the road name without following proper norms. Such decisions have to be taken by the municipal body,” said party spokesperson Pabitra Kar.
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