Grow Up, Comrades

Modi was in Tripura to inaugurate a 726 MW gas-based thermal power project

Political untouchability which has a premium in the country’s political discourse, got a royal snub in Tripura. Of course, it was downplayed by the CPM, but its Chief Minister and Politburo member Manik Sarkar invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the state cabinet on the issue of good governance, giving weightage to Modi’s brand of politics of development.

Modi was in Tripura to inaugurate a 726 MW gas-based thermal power project. Sarkar is the sole Marxist CPM Chief Minister in India. Sarkar, the poorest CM in the country, donates his salary and allowances to his party, which pays him Rs 5,000 a month. In his affidavit to the Election Commission, Sarkar had declared Rs 1,080 in cash and a bank balance of Rs 9,720. “What is wrong in inviting the PM to meet the ministers of my cabinet?

Every state has its own specific problems, characteristics, advantages, disadvantages— the decision is for every respective state to take on its own,” Sarkar was quoted as saying by a TV channel.

Manik SarkarNarendra ModiTropura