With barely three days left for the civic body polls, ‘taunting comment’ of Bengal based youth leader of Trinamool Congress Sayoni Ghosh triggered day-long violence – resulting in attacks and sporadic clashes in Agartala on Sunday. She was also arrested in the evening.

 

TMC state steering committee convener Subal Bhowmik’s residence was vandalized, the East Agartala women police station was attacked twice and four media persons including one from West Bengal were attacked. Reports pouring in from various sources confirmed that several other people were injured in the attacks and clashes between the supporters of BJP and TMC.

 

All that began with some comments made by Sayoni Ghosh during an election rally of Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb in Agartala on Saturday.

 

Her comments drew immediate reactions from the ruling party activists but police and the other security personnel tackled the situation.

 

On Monday, she was called by East Agartala women police for interrogation. As soon as the news of her arrival in the police station spread, people in large numbers reported to be BJP supporters assembled there and launched an attack on the TMC activists present at the spot. The vehicle of TMC state convener Subal Bhowmik was vandalized at the police station premises.  

 

The situation turned more volatile when TMC leader from West Bengal – Kunal Ghosh stated that he would request the party leadership in Bengal to treat the BJP the same way they treated TMC in Tripura.

 

The police personnel somehow tackled the situation for the time being but the situation continued to be tense.

 

In the evening, Sayoni was arrested after a thorough interrogation. But the East Agartala women police station where the TMC youth leader had been kept was attacked in the evening for the second time. Finally, she was shifted to another place in view of her safety and security.

 

Meanwhile, speaking to the media, TMC MP Sushmita Dev strongly condemned the incident and accused the police of favouring the BJP.

 

“When BJP activists raise go-back slogans in front of our election meetings, police don’t take any action against them. She (Sayoni) has done absolutely nothing, Tripura police is biased. It’s a plan to derail the preparations for Abhishek Banerjee’s rally on Nov 22,” Dev told the media soon after the attack.

 

Another report said, as many as 15 TMC MPs in New Delhi sought time to meet Home Minister Amit Shah. According to sources, they were on the move to stage a dharna in the national capital.

 

Meanwhile, AITC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is scheduled to arrive here in the city on Monday.

 

The civic body polls in Tripura would take place on November 25 next and results would be declared on November 28.