Tripura: 2 Lenin statues razed as BJP-CPM activists clash
Belonia: Remains of the five-feet-tall statue of Lenin which was allegedly demolished by a pay-loader at Belonia in South Tripura district on Monday afternoon and was thrown at the nearby jungle. The statue, made of fiber glass, was inaugurated at College Square at Belonia a few months back by CPM politburo member Prakash Karat. PTI Photo (PTI3_6_2018_000118B) Agartala: Gloating over the ouster of the Left front government in Tripura is one thing, but trying to erase the Left rule from collective consciousness and public memory, is quite another. The BJP seems determined to do the latter by razing the statues of Lenin — another such incident was reported in Tripura on Tuesday, the second since the BJP stormed to power in the Left bastion.
The incident predictably triggered a slanging match between the CPM and the BJP which has, on the social media, defended the dismantling of the statue as manifestation of their ire against CPI(M)’s imported ideology. Lenin, a Russian by birth, has no place on the Indian soil, they have argued. Even Governor Tathagata Roy tweeted that a newly elected government was within its right to undo what the previous government had done. “What one democratically elected government can do another democratically elected government can undo. And vice versa,” Roy said in a statement.
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BJP leader Subramanian Swamy went a step further and said the late Russian leader was “a terrorist.’ ‘Lenin was a foreigner. He was, in a way, a terrorist because of the number of people he massacred in Russia after imposing dictatorship. And (you) want a statue of such a person erected in our country?” Swamy demanded.
CPM’s general secretary Sitaram Yechury lost no time in announcing country-wide protests, accusing the BJP of “thriving on political violence.’ Tripura CPM district secretary Tapas Datta claimed BJP supporters had chanted Bharat mata ki jai while pulling down the five-feet-tall fibre glass statue, which was unveiled by politburo member Prakash Karat a few months ago.
The seething anger against the Left spilled into the streets as CPM and BJP activists engaged in clashes. Section 144 has been imposed in several areas and the CPM state secretary claimed over 500 party workers were assaulted, 134 offices were attacked and looted and 64 have been set on fire, electronic media reports said. Home Minister Rajnath Singh was constrained to speak with the authorities in the state: he has a good reason to worry since BJP’s Biplab Kumar Deb will be taking oath as chief minister on Friday. Dismantling of statues was something one associated with totalitarian regimes, not democratically elected governments. This is something the BJP is forgetting in its hour of triumph.