A delegation of Left Front led by Opposition leader Manik Sarkar was allegedly attacked by BJP supporters at Santirbazar under South Tripura on Monday. CPIM Politburo condemned the attack. However, Tripura Unit of BJP rubbished the allegations.
The LF delegation comprising Manik Sarkar, Deputy Opposition leader Badal Choudhury MLA Sudhan Das and other senior local leaders went to Sanrirbazar to visit the houses of some of the CPIM party workers who were injured in violent attacks at Santirbazar on May 05 last.
According to reports, the team of leaders was confronted by a frenzied mob after they entered the Santirbazar area. The mob started hurling abuses on the LF leaders and slogans were raised accusing Sarkar and Chowdhury for the “Rose Valley chit fund scam”. People also shouted ‘Go Back’ slogan.
Later, a team of police arrived at the spot and escorted them towards the house of one of the victims, Narendra Sarkar. After meeting the family members, the leaders approached for the house of another victim, Officer-in-charge Santirbazar police station Subrata Chakraborty requested the leaders to stop visiting victims and return as managing mobs would be difficult. Sarkar and team after giving a patient hearing to the police officer decided not to head towards their desired location and retreated.
On their way back, the mob gathered surrounding the house where they went started pelting stones, eggs, brickbats, wooden clubs, empty water bottles targeting the CPIM leaders. The vehicle belonging to former MDC Parikshit Murasingh was roughly vandalized.
Santirbazar SDPO Nirupan Datta said, “No one was injured. Adequate police arrangements were deployed as prior notice was given. Due to enough security, we succeeded to protect them”. However, no police complaint was lodged against the incident and police clearly stated that no one could be identified from the mob in connection with the case.
Later, addressing a press conference, leader of the opposition Manik Sarkar said, “This is not a new phenomenon in Tripura. Since last three years, CPIM leaders, MLAs and local level workers are facing intimidation and attacks one after another. I am still to understand what they want. If the peace can be restored in Tripura in lieu of my life, if democratic culture gets restored for that, if the tranquility is restored, I am ready to embrace it happily”.
Lambasting the BJP, Sarkar said, these attacks are indicative of the organizational bankruptcy of the ruling party. He also trained his guns on the police department accusing the department of not taking their visit seriously. “As it appears, it was pre-planned. The DG was informed a day before. But, the police arrangement was not adequate. We had not seen any senior police official at least of the level of police superintendent to arrive at the spot. People would not forget anything and answers of all these fascist attacks would be delivered in the right time”, said Sarkar.
Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Prabir Chakraborty rubbished all the allegations saying that the CPIM leaders faced the wrath of the people who had been looted by the chit fund companies like Rose Valley.