Tripura Governor

did not want to read the paragraphs which criticised the Bjp-led government at the Centre. The Governor’s speech is prepared by the council of ministers, and since the government in Tripura is run by the Left Front, most of the speech was against the policies of the Centre.”

He said the Governor had “deliberately” refrained from reading most of his speech “because it held the views of the Left Front government.”

“One paragraph clearly stated that the communal situation in the country was tense, minorities and Dalits were under attack, and intolerance was rising. Another paragraph spoke about financial constraints caused to special category states due to dismantling of the Planning Commission. Yet another paragraph was on the hardship people are facing due to demonetisation,” he said.

He said a Governor only skips parts of his speech if he is unwell or if there are loud protests in the House. “In this case, he was neither unwell, nor did any member try to disrupt his speech. In fact we wanted him to read the entire speech. This is an insult to the House as well as the state government. It is also an insult to the people who elected this House,” said the TMC leader.

According to a PTI report, Roy skipped the parts of the written speech which said: “Communal situation in the country is tense. Minorities and Dalits are under attack and intolerance is increasing. This is what is causing harm to peace, tranquillity and sense of integrity, which is very important for the advancement of the country.

“Dismantling the erstwhile Planning Commission has caused financial constraints to special category states, more particularly small, North Eastern states like Tripura with limited internal resources... Due to non-functioning of the consultative mechanism between the Centre and states, the trend of one-party rule is increasing. Thus, the federal structure in the country is virtually under jeopardy...

“Farmers are not getting remunerative prices of their produce; as a result suicides among farmers have been increasing for the past three years... Demonetisation has paralysed the financial transactions... It has caused immense hardship to the common people.”

The ruling Left Front did not comment on the issue.