Political violence: Central force in Tripura; CPI-M calls for intervention from Centre

AGARTALA/ NEW DELHI: Central and State security forces have been deployed in different parts of Tripura on Thursday, which witnessed a series of political clashes and arsoning since Wednesday while the ruling and opposition parties held protest rallies against these hostilities, said the police and party sources.

CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought the Centre's intervention to stop political violence against the Left parties in Tripura.

Inspector General of Police (law and order), Arindam Nath, said that besides the Tripura State Rifles, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel have been deployed in the strategic and sensitive locations across the State.

"As the CRPF troopers are efficient in dealing with political and mob violence, we have deployed the Central para-military personnel in different strategic and sensitive locations across the State.

"So far, four people have been arrested in Udaipur, while one person has been detained in Agartala in connection with the political violence in Tripura," said Nath.

The officer added that the case related to the attack on a newspaper office (Pratibadi Kalam) on Wednesday has been handed over to the Crime Branch.

Senior CPI-M leader Pabitra Kar said that in a pre-planned fashion, the BJP workers accompanied by goons in the past 48 hours attacked and burnt down at least 55 party offices in all the eight districts of the state, including the state party headquarters and CITU head office in Agartala and Gomati.

Kar alleged that the BJP supporters also burnt down many houses of CPI-M leaders and workers, besides gutting over six vehicles and more than a dozen two-wheelers. Scores of party leaders and workers have been injured in Agartala and other places of the state, he said..

"Even the media was not spared from the attacks by the ruling party workers and hooligans. The offices of 'PB-24 News', 'Pratibadi Kalam' and the CPI-M supported newspaper 'Daily Desharkatha' were attacked, leading to the damage of huge number of assets," Kar told the media.

Yeachury in his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the impunity with which the BJP 'gangs' operated shows the connivance of the state government.

"These attacks took place because the ruling party has tried and failed to suppress the activities of the main Opposition in the State.

"The Central government, in particular the Union Home Ministry, should intervene immediately to ensure that the rule of law prevails and the rights of citizens are protected in Tripura," the Left leader wrote in the letter.

CPI general secretary D. Raja said in a statement that he has spoken to CPI-M politburo member and former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on the matter, and the Left parties would unitedly resist the violence of the BJP-RSS combine.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Rajiv Bhattacharjee and party spokesman Nabendu Bhattacharjee said that Sarkar and CPI-M leaders themselves have been instigating violence in different parts of Tripura to create chaos in the peaceful state.

Rajiv Bhattacharjee said that Sarkar, while visiting his Assembly constituency in Dhanpur on Monday, provoked the CPI-M workers to unleash attacks on the BJP workers.

"People of the state do not want to recur the political violence that was a regular feature during the 25 years of CPI-M rule.

"If the CPI-M workers attack the BJP men, there would definitely be a reaction. We want peace and development in the state," he stated. The BJP, as well as the opposition CPI-M and Trinamool Congress, organised separate rallies across Tripura protesting against the unprecedented political violence that has been witnessed in all the eight districts of the state since Wednesday. (IANS)

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