Mrinal Banik, AGARTALA: Leader of the opposition in Tripura – Manik Sarkar has expressed disappointment on the role of present Speaker of Tripura Legislative Assembly – Ratan Chakraborty, saying that the opposition’s space for questioning the government is “getting shrunk day by day”.
Drawing a comparison, Manik Sarkar claimed that during the Left regime in Tripura, the Assembly Speakers “always acted soft towards the opposition”.
The former Tripura chief minister was speaking at a condolence meeting of former Assembly Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath.
The ex-speaker and MLA from North Tripura’s Jubarajnagar assembly constituency breathed his last a week ago.
Praising Debnath’s role as a Speaker of Tripura Legislative Assembly, Sarkar said, “During his stint at the office of Speaker of Tripura Legislative Assembly, Debnath always tried to give equal space to the opposition party.”
“The ruling party gets enough time to discuss their matters as members of the treasury bench used to enjoy the liberty to move new bills and legislations,” Sarkar added.
He further said: “During his term, he did justice to the opposition leaders, unlike these days when we get less attention from the Speaker.”
Sarkar alleged that the rights of opposition parties in Tripura these days are being ‘curbed’ in the Assembly.
“After a change of guards in the state, Debnath stood firmly on his principles. Whenever he saw the opposition was being silenced violating the regulations of state assembly, Debnath protested in the house and sometimes read out loud the sections that were breached,” Manik Sarkar said.
CPI-M secretary Jitendra Chowdhury, on the other hand, said, “Our fight is to restore democracy in the state. We are not only trying to reinvigorate democratic culture inside the assembly but also in every sphere of work. The path shown by Ramendra Chandra Debnath should be followed in letter and spirit for the change that we are all craving for.”
