Although, the ruling party dismissed these allegations by simply stating that opposition CPM & Congress didn’t have candidates but the then ground realities didn’t support those views of the BJP — as there were reports of intimidations & attacks on opposition supporters across the state. Not to mention the frequent clashes between BJP and its ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) supporters in the tribal belt. The tribal party has two ministers in the Biplab Deb led government.

This weakening of democracy is creating problems even during this pandemic. There have been allegations from both CPM & Congress that their leaders and supporters are either prevented or attacked by BJP supporters while reaching out to the needy. These allegations simply can't be dismissed given the state’s ground situation since BJP's coming to power & there are local media reports too.

Apart from this, the Corona crisis will only increase the unemployment issue. It was the rising unemployment in the state under CPM’s rule that brought the saffron party to power. However, BJP also doesn't have any good record to show on this issue. The harsh reality is that the picture hasn't changed much — instead data suggest at different times the unemployment figures rose more than the figures of the time when BJP came to power.

Also, there have been concerns that the tribals living in the remote areas aren’t getting help in time — which may increase the food crisis in these areas. Not to forget that, these allegations have been there against this government since 2018 — a matter repeatedly raised by CPM’s tribal face Jitendra Chaudhury, a former state cabinet minister & Lok Sabha MP.

However, no one can deny the fact that when it comes to testing Covid-19 samples per million, Tripura ranks fourth — only after Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir and Goa. Tripura as of now has tested 9379.8 per million population. (Source: The Hindu’s Covid-19 State Wise Tracker).

Importantly, Tripura’s testing figures per million are more than thrice that of Kerala’s figures. The Kerala model has won accolades from both national and international media for quite effectively dealing with the virus. So, an undeveloped north-eastern state like Tripura coming fourth nationally in terms of testing per million population, also ahead of Kerala, shows that in this case the government is doing quite well.

Besides this, the state chief minister Biplab Deb, who has often made into news headlines for his frequent controversial remarks, has been touring the state, including rural areas, to personally enquire the situations of the people. So, at least in this case, Biplab Deb is trying to overcome his past shadow of only making into news headlines for controversial remarks.

However, the state government has a hilarious task ahead as the Covid-19 cases continue to spike, particularly since the end of May. Already, the cases have crossed 890, the second highest number in the northeast after Assam. Most of the cases are from the state residents who came from hot-spot states like Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. But the state government also has to blame itself for not testing all of the passengers coming from outside the state. It initially tested rather on a ratio basis — although lately it has decided to test all passengers. The main opposition CPM too has been attacking the government on this same issue — for its inability to test and properly quarantine all those coming from other states and letting them go to their native places.

This is also the main reason for the spike in Corona cases — which has created fear among the people of the state. However, the government's task has been made more difficult by the citizens who are not adhering to social distancing measures in market places — forcing the government to warn that it may consider going for a lockdown. There have been reports of people in quarantine centres not following the rules — pointing to the administrative failures. Recently, the state government has notified 29 places as containment zones.

The state government may be forced to go for another lockdown if the situation continues to deteriorate in the state. It should immediately focus on the many existing problems. One major area is fixing the inefficient administration to properly quarantine people. It's good that the chief minister himself is touring the state and the state has been doing quite good on testing. But, the government has to be more efficient to curb the virus. However, this shouldn't mean giving extra power to police to unnecessarily harass the common citizens — as this will only worsen the situation. Every crisis also brings an opportunity. So, it remains to be seen whether Biplab Deb is able to improve the performance of his own government — which hasn’t been appreciative on many crucial fronts since its coming to power in 2018. (IPA Service)