Former Tripura Chief Minister, CPI(M) Leaders Attacked, Hold BJP Responsible
Agartala: A week after the Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb stated that the ‘culture of terror’ in the state has been put to an end after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came into power, on Monday the leader of the opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist) and former chief minister Manik Sarkar was attacked allegedly by BJP workers in the Santirbazar sub-division under South Tripura district.
Sarkar was accompanied by deputy opposition leader Badal Choudhury, MLA Sudhan Das and others while going to meet party supporters who had recently faced a similar attack by local miscreants.
When the convoy of CPI(M) legislators reached Santirbazar, hundreds of people who had assembled attacked them.
A video that went viral showed the people holding black flags, chanting ‘Go back Manik Sarkar’ and pelting stones and bottles at the leaders.
Later, speaking to reporters at the CPI(M) state party office in Agartala, Sarkar alleged that a series of attacks have been carried out by BJP-backed goons under the instructions of the state leadership. “The BJP state leadership provokes the miscreants to carry out attacks on opposition party leaders. The way we are being targeted is unacceptable,” Sarkar said.
Sarkar has said that if his blood and life helps to restore peace, prosperity, democracy and law and order in the state, he would not feel sad but rather welcome the attack on him. “But still I demand peace and democracy. This has to be stopped and it cannot continue this way,” the veteran leader told reporters.
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Describing the incident, Sarkar said, “When we reached Santirbazar, we saw a group of people standing on both sides of the road raising slogans to 'go back' and holding black flags. The police officers requested us to come out of the vehicle and we started walking to reach the house of our supporters. The Santirbazar police station officer in-charge requested us to turn back as we could not drive further due to the law and order situation. We later decided to turn back as the police requested and not proceed further. But suddenly, the angry mob started pelting stones, bricks, sticks, eggs and water bottles at us. We have not seen any higher police official come to the spot even though we have written a letter to the director-general of police (DGP) informing him about the tour plan,” Sarkar said.
Terming the state’s current scenario as ‘Jungle Raj’, the former chief minister urged people to start a movement against the misrule in the state led by the saffron party.
The crowd that attacked the CPI(M) delegation. Photo: Special arrangement
“Chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb had said that no violence has taken place but now what we have seen is that there is no rule of law but ‘Jungle Raj’,” Sarkar said.
“We believe that a section of people from his party is trying to instigate the violence in the state. After the failure in recent elections across the country, the BJP intensified its attacks out of fear,” the former chief minister said.
However, the deputy opposition leader Badal Choudhury sustained minor injuries along with others.
On the issue, Nirupam Datta, Santirbazar sub-divisional police officer, told The Wire, “A team of opposition MLAs including former chief minister Manik Sarkar went to meet a worker of their party in Santirbazar today. Suddenly people gathered when Sarkar reached the spot and raised slogans of ‘Go Back’. They were agitating seeking the money which they had deposited in the Rose Valley chit fund. While returning from the worker’s house, empty plastic water bottles were pelted on the MLAs. However, no one was injured and we rescued them safely. No FIRs were lodged in this regard.”
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Reacting to the issue, state BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya told this correspondent that no one from his party was engaged in the incident.
“People who lost their money due to the Rose Valley chit fund during the Left Front regime had protested today for their rights. None of our workers, supporters were involved in the incident,” Bhattacharya said.
Earlier in 2019, during an assembly session of the Tripura Legislative assembly, chief minister Deb said that his government would sell all the properties of the chit fund companies to give refunds to fraud victims. Deb said that a total of 83 cases were registered after BJP formed government in the state.
Meanwhile, condemning the incident, Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma who is royal scion of the state and also chairman of TIPRA (which swept the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council Poll) wrote on Twitter, “I am not a supporter of Communists and the culture of violence that they introduced to our state. Today the Communist is gone but this culture has remained. After seeing the images of what happened to Manik Sarkar all right thinking people should condemn this. Action when not taken against criminals emboldens them - the same happened when no one was arrested after I was attacked in SDM office before the TTAADC elections. Appeal to all to end this culture of political violence.”
BJP MLA Sudip Roy Barman, who was dropped from the state cabinet, wrote on Facebook, “Politics is at an all-time low in Tripura. Shocked to hear the attack upon the Leader of Opposition and other leaders in Shantirbazar. I strongly condemn and demand the arrest of the hooligans.”
This article went live on May eleventh, two thousand twenty one, at twenty-nine minutes past ten in the morning.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
