At least two Tripura police personnel, including a woman officer, were injured along with a few anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protesters, when unidentified persons threw stones at the agitators.
Along with rest of the country, supporters of Left political parties, including the CPI, RSP, AIFB and the CPI (M-L) joined the CPM in the protests on Thursday.
The protests, including rallies and street-corner gatherings, were peaceful except at Belonia in South Tripura, 90km from here, where BJP supporters allegedly threw stones at the protesters.
While addressing a gathering at Melarmath here, Tripura Left Front convener Bijan Dhar said Left supporters were attacked when they were agitating against the “unconstitutional law”.
On Thursday, rallies were held at Dharmanagar in North Tripura, Kailashahar in Unakoti, Belonia in South Tripura and Sonamura in Sipahijala.
Accusing the ruling BJP of attacking the protesters at Belonia, Dhar said: “Our rally at Belonia came under attack by BJP supporters. They threw stones at us. Three of our supporters and some policemen were injured.”
A duty officer from Tripura police headquarters said a woman sub-inspector Champa Das and her colleague Smriti Kanta Bardhan were injured when miscreants threw stones at the rally. Both are under treatment.
Rubbishing the allegations, BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya said CPM supporters threw stones to disperse police personnel who stopped their rally.
“They did not take permission to hold the rally and so the police obstructed them. The CPM supporters threw stones to drive away the police personnel. No BJP supporter was behind it,” he said.
Speaking at the rally here, CPM state secretary Goutam Das alleged that the ruling BJP had passed the amended citizenship act to “turn India into a Hindu nation”.
“This act is anti-constitutional. This is a deep-rooted conspiracy to turn India into a Hindu nation. We will protest it again and again,” he said. On Thursday, the SFI, the CPM’s student wing, and the Tribal Students’ Union held a protest in front of Agartala City Centre where they demanded rollback of the CAA.
