Agartala, Dec 1 (IANS) The opposition CPI-M, Trinamool Congress, Congress and other parties separately organised a series of protests across Tripura on Thursday, demanding restoration of law and order following Wednesday’s political violence, which claimed the life of a Left party member.
CPI-M state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury said on Thursday night that some police officers accompanied by a huge contingent of security forces “kidnapped the body of Sahid Mia” from the Govind Ballabh Pant Medical College and Hospital after forcibly dispersing the relatives of the slain Left party cadre.
Mia, 65, was killed and at least 30 workers and leaders of the Left party and the ruling BJP were injured after the workers of both the outfits engaged in a violent clash at Charilam in Tripura’s Sepahijala district on Wednesday.
The CPI-M in a statement claimed that the BJP workers attacked its members when they tried to reopen one of their party offices at Charilam.
Chaudhury, a CPI-M central committee member, led a delegation of party leaders and held a meeting with DGP Amitabh Ranjan on Thursday, demanding immediate arrest of all the criminals responsible for the murder of many opposition members and workers.
“During the BJP regime since 2018, total anarchy and ‘jungle raj’ have been established in Tripura. The police remain silent spectators whenever any incident takes place in Tripura,” the Left leader told the media.
After Mia’s death on Wednesday, the CPI-M had launched state-wide protest rallies which continued on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress on Thursday tried to gherao the residence of Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, but the police prevented them from doing so.
Later, Trinamool’s Tripura in-charge Rajib Banerjee said that despite a series of political violence, rape and murder, the police are yet to arrest anyone involved in these crimes as the perpetrators are members of the ruling BJP.
The Congress also held protest rallies in Agartala and other parts of Tripura.
The CPI-M politburo strongly condemned the “gruesome attack on party leaders and cadres” in Charilam, saying that the violence typifies the state of affairs in Tripura ever since the BJP came to power in February 2018.
With Assembly elections just over two months away, the BJP, in connivance with the administration and police, continues to terrorise political opponents, the Left party said.
–IANS
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