Addressing a press conference in Agartala on August 29, Bharatiya Janata Party national president JP Nadda lauded the ruling party for the “all-round development of Tripura”.
Nadda was on a two-day election campaign in Tripura for the assembly polls scheduled for 2023. At a briefing, he made claims about the economic development and the situation relating to political violence in the northeastern state.
Claim #1: The per capita income of Tripura has increased by 30% under BJP rule.
Fact: False.
“When the government was formed in Tripura under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Biplab Deb and later handled by Manik Saha, development took place in every area,” said Nadda. “The BJP government worked for the all-round development of Tripura…The per capita income of Tripura has increased by 30%. It has become 1,30,000 per annum per person. These are the indicators of economic development.”
In 2018, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s regime of more than two decades ended. Since then, it has been four years of BJP government’s rule in Tripura. As per FactChecker’s analysis of the 2018 figures provided by the Directorate of Economics & Statistics Planning (Statistics) Department of Tripura, there has been a 14.5% increase in per capita income between 2018-’19 and 2020-’21.
In 2018-’19, the per capita income of Tripura (with the new 2011-’12 base) was Rs 1,13,467. This increased by 10.7% to Rs 1,25,674 in 2019-’20.
As per the latest official statistics of the state, the per capita income of Tripura in 2020-’21 was Rs 1,29,995. Even if we had to look at the figure Nadda claimed (which is Rs 1,30,000 per capita income), the increase would remain at 14.5%.
Claim #2: ‘The political violence that used to happen during the CPM party’s regime has been brought to an end. Now Tripura can live in peace.’
Fact: This claim is misleading.
To verify Nadda’s claim, FactChecker looked at data from the Crime in India reports published by the National Crime Records Bureau between 2018 and 2021.
Although cases related to political riots have reduced by 45% in the last four years, the Northeastern state saw a sudden surge in political violence in the last two years – from 22 cases in 2020 to 64 cases in 2021.
Moreover, the crime rate related to political violence in Tripura is the highest in the country – 1.6% crimes per lakh people.
In 2018, Tripura recorded 143 incidents related to political riots, followed by 78 in 2019. This dropped to 22 cases in 2020. However in 2021, the state saw a threefold increase in political violence.
Overall, Tripura has seen a 54% drop in riot cases in the last four years – from 256 cases in 2018 to 117 cases in 2021. However it saw a 41% rise in cases between 2020 and 2021. Further, the Northeastern state has fared well in terms of communal and religious violence in the last four years.
FactChecker tried contacting Nadda’s office via email and call but had not received a response by the time of publishing this article. If and when we do, it will be updated here.
This article first appeared on FactChecker.
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