From Our Correspondent
Agartala: Uproarious scenes were witnessed on Wednesday inside the Tripura Assembly over the felicitation of Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar in Dhaka for his contribution in 1971 Bangladesh liberation war.
Speaker Ramendra Debnath adjourned the House 30 minutes ahead of the lunch break.
However, Sarkar informed the House the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had given permission to him to visit Dhaka on March 27 next along with his officials.
Following sustained criticism from intellectuals, civil societies and opposition Congress over the role of CPI-M and Manik Sarkar during 1971 War for past a week, Sarkar was compelled to speak out in the House on Wednesday.
He, however, accepted that he did not have any mentionable role in Bangladesh Liberation War and made it clear, “I am going to recognise the contribution of the people of Tripura in 1971 war and I don’t feel it is the right forum to explain in detail my contribution. They invited me and my country permitted me to accept the invitation.”
Opposition legislators had criticised the role of the Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and alleged the invitation letter to the chief minister from Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni was a clear indication of distortion of history because the letter was not addressed to officials and nowhere in the letter was it mentioned that Mr Sarkar would be honoured for the contribution of Tripura. (With inputs from UNI)
