Is Mamata Banerjee Anti-Bengali for Opposing CAA? Asks Pradyot Manikya

Agartala, February 9, 2020:

Tripura royal scion Pradyot Manikya has announced a sum of Rs 1.5 lakh for the Bengali people who were displaced during the riots after the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Moreover, Manikya has clarified that being against the implementation of the Citizenship Act does not mean he is "anti-Bengali".

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"Regarding the Kanchanpur violence, I am deeply concerned about that. On Wednesday, my organization is going there and I am donating one lakh fifty thousand rupees for the Bengali houses that got destroyed", Manikya told Inside Northeast.

The royal scion also stated that "polarization" is taking place in Tripura, as per the designs of the Government, and added that this polarization is "not helping anyone."

Reacting to the ongoing struggle against the Citizenship Amendment Act, which he has spearheaded in his home-state, Manikya opined: "I am against it, it should not be enforced in Tripura, neither should it be enforced in Assam. It should be equally distributed across the country, and not just in one or two states.

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"We all sympathize and we are not against any community. You can't selectively choose states and omit states whether it will be imposed or not. If that is the case, it is pure votebank politics. People are opposing the CAA...even Mamata Banerjee who herself is a Bengali is opposing it, is she anti-Bengali?", Manikya said, responding to allegations that he had made "anti-Bengali" remarks.

Lamenting the foreigner infiltration in Tripura, Manikya opines that the political administrations have done little to curb the inflow of undocumented migrants in the border-area state. "The CPI (M) and the BJP have turned a blind-eye to the issue that has been at the forefront of any political discussion in Tripura", he said.

"People are only looking at it from a political angle, I am looking at it from a demographic point-of-view. Not everything gets solved by elections", said Manikya.

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