A joint delegation of the Left Front and the Congress on Monday urged Tripura police to act in an “unbiased manner” to check attacks “targeting” the Opposition in the state after the election results were declared.
The delegates submitted a two-page memorandum to the Tripura DGP Amitabh Ranjan, urging him to direct his officers to register suo motu cases against all incidents of attacks carried out by “unruly BJP workers” since March 2, initiate immediate measures to adequately compensate the affected families, create a “conducive environment” for “poor” auto-operators and shop-owners to operate freely and ensure the “return” of those compelled to “desert” their homes “due to terror and intimidation”.
The ruling BJP has dismissed the Left-Congress claim, asserting their members were also being attacked by the Congress-Left Front.
The six signatories to the memorandum included Left Front convener Narayan Kar and Congress’s Asish Kumar Saha, who told The Telegraph that they have also submitted a list of 668 incidents with names of victims, nature of attacks and the place of occurrences.
“The delegation requested the DGP to act on the cases to prevent fresh incidents, arrest those involved and restore normalcy. The officer has assured us of looking into the cases. We will wait for two-three days before launching a joint protest against the attacks by the BJP people,” Saha said.
The attacks included physical assault, arson, ransacking of homes and shops, looting of shops, damaging plantations and “extorting” money from Opposition supporters to celebrate the BJP’s victory, the memorandum alleged, adding two elderly ailing men died of shock in Udaipur sub-division and that many offices of the Left Front and the Congress were “crushed down or set on fire”.
“In a democratic system of governance, election is indispensable. And in an election, it is normal that one will win defeating others. But democracy does not permit pushing the lives of thousands of people into hell in the name of celebrating the victory of the winner. But unfortunately, this is happening in Tripura,” the memorandum alleged.
State BJP chief spokesperson Subrata Chakraborty dismissed the Opposition parties’ claim as baseless and a conspiracy to defame the BJP.
“They (the CPM and the Congress) should take responsibility for the injuries inflicted on our BJP workers. Fifty of our workers are injured in attacks by the Opposition members. These are baseless charges, an attempt to defame the BJP by the Left and Congress after they lost the poll. We will also release a list in the next few days,” Chakraborty told The Telegraph.
The February 16 Assembly results went in favour of the ruling BJP-IPFT, which won 33 of the 60 seats for a second straight term.
The Left Front and the Congress won 14 seats despite a seat-sharing arrangement while the Tipra Motha won 13 of the 42 seats it contested.
A senior police official told The Telegraph that 12 cases have been registered, leading to the arrest of 10 persons till Monday afternoon.
“We made about 700 preventive arrests. They were released on bail but they are under watch. We have also sent notices to quite a few people,” he said.
The official also said that most of the cases were personal in nature than political and police intervention has prevented escalation. “There have been no lethal injuries or death. Things have subsided since Sunday and once the government is sworn in on March 8, things will further subside,” another official said.
Manik Saha, who will continue as the chief minister after being unanimously chosen as the leader of the BJP legislature party on Monday evening, had a couple of days ago warned trouble mongers of strict action. He will be sworn in on March 8in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
