Agartala: A Left-Congress team of MPs and MLAs from different states and local leaders looking into the alleged incidents of post-poll violence in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Tripura came under attack at Nehalchandranagar in Bishalgarh sub-division of Sipahijala district on the evening of March 10.
The police confirmed the attack but termed the opposition leaders’ visit there an ‘unscheduled one’.
At least three vehicles were vandalised and the leaders of the opposition camp escaped the attack narrowly.
In the purported videos of the incident shared by leaders of the Left-Congress combine, attackers were heard shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ when damaging some cars.
Tripura Congress president and MLA Birajit Sinha alleged that security personnel in the three escort cars accompanying them did not act. One of them, of the Tripura State Rifles, allegedly told him that this was because there was “no order to take action”.
Sinha said, “In that area 20 shops were gutted in a fire on Thursday. The team was listening to the people when a group of youths, BJP workers by their own claims, challenged the team. All of a sudden stone pelting started and vehicles were vandalised.”
The officer-in-charge of the police station concerned said, “Three persons have been arrested in this context.”
The ruling BJP is yet to make any statement on the incident and the allegation made against it by the opposition leaders. The regional party, TIPRA Motha, that emerged as a formidable force in the elections has also not spoken on the matter.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary Jitendra Chowdhury said the team cancelled Saturday’s scheduled visit to affected areas and instead met the Governor of Tripura and demanded his intervention in ending the “unabated violence and attacks” which started soon after the state’s assembly poll results came on March 2.
ত্রিপুরা রাজ্যের নির্বাচনের পর বিরোধী দলের নেতা কর্মীদের উপর সারা রাজ্যে আক্রমণ চলছে, এরই প্রতিবাদে আজ রাজ্য পালের সাথে দেখা করে কংগ্রেস ও বামফ্রন্টের এক প্রতিনিধি দল। pic.twitter.com/A2JFBrVFK2
— Tripura Congress (@INCTripura) March 11, 2023
The MPs told the press that on returning to Delhi, they will meet with the President and apprise her about the atrocities.
Opposition parties have alleged that over a thousand incidents involving physical attacks, arson, vandalisation and looting of houses and properties, and also rampant extortion have taken place. “The police have not been registering FIRs but booking the victims in criminal cases. The goons are free,” said CPI(M) MP Elamaram Kareem.
Along with Kareem, the delegation under attack comprised Congress’s Lok Sabha MP Abdul Khaleque, All India Congress Committee general secretary and former MP Dr Ajoy Kumar, CPI(M) state secretary and current MLA Jitendra Chowdhury, MLA Ramu Das, former MLA Asish Kumar Saha, Tripura Congress president MLA Birajit Sinha and other leaders including defeated candidates from both the parties.
BJP goons unleashed attack against the fact finding team of opposition MPs visiting the post-poll violence affected areas of Tripura. It's the Goonda Raaj of BJP ruling the state now. Law & order in the state collapsed completely. We won't move an inch back from our visit. pic.twitter.com/FdMGekBs6V
— Elamaram Kareem (@ElamaramKareem_) March 10, 2023
Late on Friday, police issued a statement saying: “A delegation of MP, MLAs & local leaders made an unscheduled visit to NC Nagar, Bishalgarh today. During their visit some sloganeering was done. The accompanying police escort team responded quickly and rescued the delegation safely. Senior officers are at the spot. No injury to any person has been reported locally. Damage to 2/3 vehicles has been reported. One suspect has been detained. Raids are on to identify and arrest other miscreants.”
Another opposition team of senior leaders was threatened in Mohanpur sub-division in West Tripura on Friday, allegedly in the presence of police, including the officer-in-charge of the local police station, when they were interacting with a family affected by the violence. The MPs told the press that they would be taking up the “violent situation of the state” in the parliament.
Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, CPI(M) MP from Bengal, who was part of the delegation, wrote on social media asking Prime Minister Modi, to “come here and see your ‘mother of democracy’”.
Tripura Police has been accused of siding heavily with the ruling party. It issued a statement about 20 shops having been “fully gutted by fire at Nehal Chnadra Nagar bazaar” on Thursday evening but did not mention the cause of the fire. Police however, included a screenshot of a post by a BJP leader that termed the incident the “work of Left-Congress miscreants.”
Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan said that no FIRs had been registered in the cases of attacks on politicians either.
“We came across a vandalised house whose owners are BJP supporters, but they were also attacked as the family had provided drinking water to a Left-Congress candidate when he was on a door-to-door campaigning trip. That happened at Baishnab Tilla in Agartala. The BJP flags were still there inside their house, we saw,” said Congress MP Abdul Khaleque.
Incidents of brutal violence have been reported from Khowai, Gomati and Shipahijila districts as well.
On March 5, Chief Minister Manik Saha visited Khowai and Sipahijala districts and held meetings with police and civil administration in presence of the Director General of Police and the Chief Secretary. He had told the press that no one would be spared if found involved in violence.