On Sunday, TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee rushed to Agartala, a day after his party alleged that at least seven of its members had been injured after being attacked by members of Tripura’s ruling BJP.
Those injured are party leaders and workers such as Debangshu Bhattacharya, Sudip Raha, and Jaya Dutta from West Bengal, said a party source. According to Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, they were attacked Ambassa in Tripura’s Dhalai district.
“The miscreants attacked the car, in which I was also seated, with lathi (baton) and lethal weapons, and pelted the vehicle with stones. Their act shows that they have sensed defeat in next year’s assembly elections in the state,” Bhattacharya told media.
Reacting to this, Abhishek Banerjee has said the party will not be intimidated by the “goonda raj” in Tripura under the BJP.
Several news agencies reported that shortly after the incident on Saturday, supporters of the BJP and Trinamool faced off and staged road blockades 500 metres apart on NH 8, prompting the police to fire tear gas shells to disperse the mob and bring the situation under control.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has denied being involved in such incidents and called the Trinamool a “non-factor” in Tripura’s affairs, even though when CPIM has condemned the attack.
A party office was also totally damaged in a similar attack in Dharmanagar in North Tripura district, Kunal Ghosh said.
Meanwhile, several Trinamool youth leaders were arrested in Tripura on Saturday for protesting. Abhishekn Banerjee went to Tripura on Sunday to see them, and he was accompanied by Bratya Basu, Dola Sen and several other leaders.
“The rule of law of no longer prevails here. Trinamool MPs will sit in a dharna in Delhi on Monday to protest the incident,” Banerjee said.
All the Trinamool youth leaders have been granted bail on a bond of Rs 50,000, as per sources.
However, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh termed the whole incident as a ‘drama’. “They have done many similar plays in Assam before,” Ghosh said.
Ghosh claims that the Trinamool will not be able to exert political influence in Tripura. “I don’t think the TMC will be able to clinch the electoral victory by fighting like this,” Ghosh added.
BJP leaders have been heard repeatedly talking about establishing democracy in Bengal. They have been vocal about this more than once before and after the assembly vote.
From Amit Shah to JP Nadda and Dilip Ghosh, BJP leaders have alleged that there is no rule of law in Bengal.
Even the Governor of West Bengal, Jagdeep Dhankhar, has been vocal about this several times. This time, in the BJP-ruled state of Tripura, the same tone was heard in Abhishek’s Banerjee’s words.
“We have come to Tripura to establish democracy,” he said. “The rule of law will be established here (in Tripura). Not the law of the ruler. That will be possible only if the BJP is ousted in the next elections,” Banerjee claimed.