News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • ‘CM doesn’t have audacity’: Mamata accuses Amit Shah of plotting attacks on Abhishek, Trinamool activists in Tripura

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday alleged that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was responsible for the recent attacks on her nephew and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and other party workers, and asserted that she won’t be cowed down by such acts.

    Her allegation comes days after Abhishek Banerjee and TMC student activists were attacked in separate incidents in BJP-ruled Tripura, where the party hopes to expand its base ahead of the 2023 assembly elections.

    “The BJP is running an anarchic government in Tripura, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and wherever they are in power. We condemn the attacks on Abhishek and our party activists in Tripura,” she said after meeting injured TMC workers at state-run SSKM hospital here.

    “Such attacks would not have been possible without the Union home minister’s active support. He is behind these attacks which were carried out in front of Tripura Police as it remained mute spectators. The Tripura chief minister doesn’t have the audacity to order such attacks,” she added.

    At least 14 leaders and workers of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), including those injured in an alleged attack by BJP workers the previous day, were arrested in Tripura’s Khowai district on Sunday for “violating Covid norms”, police said.

    The TMC activists were produced before the CJM court in Khowai, which granted them bail, the party’s Tripura unit spokesperson, Ashish Lal Singh, said.

    TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who is West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and the de facto number two in the party, along with other party leaders visited Khowai amid tight security arrangements.

    Police said the 14 TMC members were arrested for violating Covid restrictions by travelling after 7 pm when a night curfew comes into effect.

    Singh said that party leaders including himself, Debangshu Bhattacharya, Tania Poddar, Sudip Raha and Jaya Dutta were among those arrested.

    Raha and Dutta had sustained injuries when their vehicle was allegedly attacked by BJP workers at Ambassa in Dhalai district on Saturday.

    “After the attack, we were returning to Agartala via National Highway 8 when the police stopped our vehicles at Khowai and took us into custody stating that there could be more attacks on us by ‘miscreants’.

    “Indeed, BJP activists had gathered at several places on NH 8 to attack us,” Singh said.

    However, early in the morning, police said the TMC members were arrested for violating Covid restrictions.

    Apart from Banerjee, West Bengal TMC general secretary Kunal Ghosh, the eastern state’s Education Minister Bratya Basu, and Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen also visited Khowai.

    Banerjee had earlier visited Tripura on August 2, when his convoy was also allegedly attacked by BJP workers.

    After securing bail for the 14 TMC workers, Banerjee returned to Kolkata while the other senior leaders stayed back in Agartala, Singh said.

    Injured party cadre, including Debangshu Bhattacharya, Jaya Dutta and Sudip Raha, were also brought back to the city late on Sunday night for treatment at a state-run city hospital, TMC said in a statement.

    Debangshu Bhattacharya said he will again return to Tripura soon.

    The West Bengal BJP welcomed the police action against the TMC activists, saying the Biplab Deb government is taking appropriate steps against “trouble-mongers”.

    Senior BJP leader and former Tripura governor Tathagata Roy claimed the TMC has no moral right to speak on law and order in the northeastern state as over 140 BJP workers have been killed in West Bengal in the last three years.

    “Does the TMC want to export West Bengal’s political violence to Tripura and fish in troubled waters? Their game plan will never succeed,” Roy told reporters.

    West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh echoed him, saying, “No one gives any importance to TMC in Tripura.”

    “They don’t have any organisation in the northeastern state. The TMC leadership is itself staging incidents to provoke the police but these will not give them any dividend.”

    However, senior TMC leader Firhad Hakim accused the BJP of “shedding crocodile tears” for democratic values in West Bengal and “carrying out barbaric attacks in Tripura”.

    Strongly criticising Saturday’s attack, TMC leaders had alleged that the incident proved there was “goonda raj” (lawlessness) in Tripura and the BJP has sensed its defeat in the 2023 assembly elections.

    Denying the involvement of its activists in the attack, the BJP claimed that the TMC is a non-factor in Tripura, and the West Bengal’s ruling party is spreading the “virus of political violence” in the northeastern state, where “outsiders” are fomenting trouble.

    Shortly after the incident, BJP and TMC supporters had faced off and staged road blockades 500 m apart on NH 8, forcing Chief Minister Biplab Deb to take a detour to return to Agartala after attending some programmes in Dharmanagar.

    TMC workers led by Subal Bhowmik, a former vice-president of Tripura BJP who recently switched sides, were protesting the alleged ransacking of a TMC party office by saffron party workers in the Batarasi area of Dharmanagar on Friday night.

    The West Bengal CPI(M) has also criticised the attack but also took a dig at the TMC alleging that it had kept mum when Left workers were earlier attacked in BJP-ruled Tripura.

  • Chhattisgarh BJP to deploy ‘Swasthya Swayamsevak’ at booth level, Congress terms it ‘mere politics’

    Express News Service

    RAIPUR: The opposition BJP in a move to reach out to the masses amid the coronavirus pandemic has decided to prepare their ‘Swasthya Swayamsevaks’ and train them as health volunteers ahead of their deployment as ‘Booth Level’ awareness team across Chhattisgarh.

    The party will groom them as health volunteers and at each booth level a minimum of two cadres will be positioned to “offer their services”. The Congress party however called the BJP’s initiative that focuses only to seek the political mileage out of the crisis like COVID-19 pandemic.

    “The BJP will carry out the given objective on the noble cause to help the needy. The ‘Swasthya Swayamsevak’ will offer help to the needy, spread awareness among the masses on what needs to be done if COVID symptoms are found, where to get treated, on home isolation, complying with the COVID appropriate behaviours and against the misconceptions on the COVID vaccination drive,” said D Purandeswari, in-charge of the Chhattisgarh unit of  BJP.

    She said that unlike others her party fights the election not for power but to serve the masses. “BJP stands for the sincerity of purpose. In Chhattisgarh we have lost 700 cadres during the pandemic, many of them while engaged extending a helping hand. Inspired by such spirit of service now our ‘Swasthya Swayamsevak’ will assist the people at the booth level,” she said.

    The ruling Congress questioned the timing of launch of the ‘Swasthya Swayamsevak’ in the field. “BJP’s absence during the COVID phase 1 and 2 were conspicuous when the people, particularly the migrant labourers, miserably suffered a lot. Now when the situation has almost turned normal in Chhattisgarh, the BJP plans to send their newly trained ‘Swasthya Swayamsevak’. Its just an attempt to gain political mileage in the name of fighting against COVID,” said Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, Chairman of Congress media cell, and further claimed that the Congress government helped the distressed with food, stay and other necessities during the crisis.

  • Dhyan Chand could have been honoured without insulting Rajiv Gandhi: Shiv Sena on renaming Khel Ratna Award

    By ANI

    MUMBAI: Shiv Sena on Monday slammed BJP-led Central government for changing the name of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, India’s highest sporting honour, to Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award and accused it of indulging in “political games” with “revenge and malice”.

    “Major Dhyan Chand could have been honoured without insulting the sacrifice of Rajiv Gandhi. Hindustan has lost that tradition and culture. Today Dhyan Chand must be feeling the same way,” it added.

    Through its mouthpiece Saamana, Shiv Sena pointed out that an award in the name of the hockey legend already exists and said Major Dhyan Chand could have been honoured without insulting the “sacrifice” of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

    Shiv Sena said that at a time when the country is celebrating the “golden moment” in the field of sports due to India’s performance in the Tokyo Olympics, “the Central government played a political game. Due to this political game, the many hearts are hurt.”

    “Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award has been renamed as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award… Many great players have been given this award till now. But it does not appear that any of them must have said that this award in the name of Rajiv Gandhi is not wanted.”

    The party raised questions on the government’s claim about the name change being motivated by “public sentiment,” but added that it is pointless to dispute the claim because Congress also indulged in similar politics during its tenure in power.

    “Amit Shah says, conferring the country’s highest sporting honour Khel Ratna award in the name of the greatest sportsperson, Major Dhyan Chand, this is a real tribute to him. Everyone associated with sports world must have swelled with pride. Shah’s statement is 100 per cent correct. It is pointless to dispute what he said and did directly, because in the last 70 years the Congress government has washed and cleaned whatever Nehru, Gandhi, Rao, Manmohan, Morarji, Deve Gowda, Gujral, Chandrashekhar did. If such a person has a role to play in running the national policy or state, then there is no use in banging his head,” Saamna said.

    However, the editorial added that “the government cannot be run with the spirit of revenge, malice, this is also a public sentiment and that feeling should also be taken care of.”

    Shiv Sena noted that the Indian hockey team got a medal in Tokyo Olympics after 41 years, and it is a joy to the whole countrymen.

    “This medal is of hockey and Major Dhyan Chand is considered to be the uncrowned king of hockey. Once upon a time, there was a golden age of hockey and Dhyan Chand was the hero of that golden age…The ‘Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award’ is given in his name. Dhyan Chand’s game had fascinated many,” said Saamana adding the names of sporting legends like Milkha Singh, Dhyan Chand which the country could never forget.

    The party asserted that Major Dhyan Chand was not forgotten by previous governments and added that by “erasing the name of Rajiv Gandhi, who made the supreme sacrifice for the country, and putting the name of Major Dhyan Chand there, can not be considered great honour of Dhyan Chand.”

    “It is politics of hatred,” Shiv Sena said.

    Shiv Sena said that had the BJP government in the Centre announced a bigger award in the name of Dhyan Chand, it would have been applauded.

    Further questioning the name change, the party said, “Now the political players of BJP are saying that ‘Did Rajiv Gandhi ever hold a hockey stick in his hand?’ Their question is valid, but if the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad was renamed after Narendra Modi, did he achieve any such feat in cricket? Or named the stadium of Delhi after Arun Jaitley. The same standard can be applied there as well. People are asking such questions. Today the administration of sports like cricket, football has gone into the hands of non-players, what should be considered a symptom of this?”

    Noting that Dhyan Chand was a big player, Shiv Sena also demanded recognition of players who won individual medals in the Olympics during the “draught of 41 years”.

    It also accused PM Narendra Modi-led government of “celebrating the Olympic medal today when in the last few years, it has cut the budget of ‘Olympics’ by about Rs 300 crores.”

    “Indira Gandhi was assassinated by terrorists. Rajiv Gandhi also lost his life in the terrorist attack. There may be differences of opinion between the two. There is room for differences in democracy, but the sacrifice of the Prime Ministers, who have contributed immensely to the progress of the country, cannot become a subject of ridicule,” said Saamana, adding that renaming the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award as ‘Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award’, would be a “political sport and not a public sentiment.”

  • Cracks in NDA? Will fight UP polls with or without BJP, says JDU

    Express News Service

    PATNA: The unease between the NDA constituents – the BJP and the JD(U) – continued to grow on Sunday after the latter said it was ready to contest the 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls ‘with or without BJP as an ally’.

    “It is up to the BJP to decide on the alliance for UP polls. We are willing go it alone in UP,” newly-elected national president of JD(U) Rajiv Ranjan told the media.

    There has been a growing discomfort between the parties ever since the JD(U) broke ranks to demand a probe into the Pegasus snooping and also seek a caste-based census, going against the BJP line, which wanted the headcount done only for the SCs and the STs. 

    Other NDA constituents –Vikashsheel Insaan Party and Hindustani Awami Morcha (Secular) –have announced that they, too, would fight the UP polls with or without allies.

    Linking JD(U)’s stellar show in the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly election, when the party won seven of the 15 seats it contested, to the popularity of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Ranjan said his image as an able administrator would help the party expand in eastern UP.

    Ranjan’s statement is being viewed in light of Nitish’s desire to shed the regional leader tag and have a say in national politics. 

    The party most recently contested the Assam and Bengal elections by fielding its candidates, but drew a blank. Its victory in Arunachal, too, was shortlived as all the seven legislators later defected to the BJP.

    Reacting sharply to Ranjan’s statement, BJP insiders said if the JD(U) did not reconsider its stand, it could lead to unpleasant developments, including the parting of ways. 

    However, a JD(U) leader said, “If we contest alone, we would make caste census, population policy and Pegasus our major poll issues. Caste census figures on top of our priority list.”

    JD(U) is attempting to woo the Kurmi, Koeri and other OBC castes.

  • BJP vice president Abdullakutty says Sachin Pilot may join party in future

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: BJP national vice president AP Abdullakutty on Sunday said Congress’ Sachin Pilot is a good leader and he thinks that the former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan will join the BJP in the future.

    Speculation about Pilot joining the BJP first began doing rounds after he and MLAs loyal to him revolted against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot last year.

    However, Pilot has said that he will not join the BJP, a party he worked hard to defeat to bring the Congress back to power in Rajasthan.

    “Sachin Pilot is a good leader and I think he will join the BJP in the future,” Abdullakutty told reporters.

    Recently, Congress leaders and AICC general secretary Ajay Maken held discussions regarding the much-awaited Cabinet reshuffle in Rajasthan.

    Demands for Cabinet expansion and political appointments gained momentum in Rajasthan after reports of resentment in the Pilot-led camp.

    Last month, Pilot had indicated that the Congress would take suitable steps soon to address issues raised by him.

    Abdullakutty also claimed false propaganda is being run by some people that the BJP is against Muslims.

    “It is a lie that the BJP is against Muslims. Our honourable RSS chief has clearly said that Muslims and Hindus are one and their DNA is also one,” he said.

    The BJP is a party that takes everyone along and this is its principle, he said.

  • Now, BJP ally Apna Dal demands caste-based census, separate ministry for OBC welfare

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections due early next year, parties are out in the state political landscape to woo the backward classes as much as they can. The latest BJP ally to join the chorus is Modi minister Anupriya Patel-led Apna Dal (S).

    However, off late, BJP allies like JD(U) and Jiten Ram Manjhi of Bihar are demanding caste census. Opposition parties like Samajwadis and Bahujan Samaj party have also been demanding the same.

    Making a demand to carve out a separate ministry for OBC welfare, Ashish Patel, the husband of Union Minister Anupriya Patel, said “caste based census is imperative to ascertain the exact population of each segment of society, especially the backwards.”

    Notably, OBCs make a major chunk of 54 per cent of the total population of Uttar Pradesh and make a huge votes base.

    ALSO READ | Options open on state-specific caste census if Centre doesn’t yield: Nitish Kumar

    He said the population of SC and ST have been calculated in all censuses post-Independence but not of the OBCs.

    “As a result, there is no proper estimate of the OBC population. Therefore, I request the government that the next census should be caste-based to ascertain the exact population of each segment, especially the OBCs.”

    He also put forward the demand for a separate ministry for the welfare of the OBCs like minorities.

    Apna Dal(S) has been a constituent of the NDA since 2014. Anupriya Patel, the daughter of the party’s founder late Sonelal Patel, was made Union minister in recent Union cabinet expansion.

    She belongs to Kurmi caste which falls in the OBC segment. Her party has influence over around 50 assembly seats, mostly in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

    At present, Apan Dal (S) has nine MLAs in UP Assembly as they had contested the last 2017 assembly elections in alliance with the BJP. Similarly, this BJP ally has two MPs in Lok Sabha.

  • BJP to train 21,000 health volunteers to tackle Covid in Jammu and Kashmir

    By PTI

    JAMMU: The BJP is planning to train 21,000 health volunteers in preparation for a possible third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Jammu and Kashmir, former minister and party general secretary Devinder Kumar Manyal said on Sunday.

    He said a batch of 110 volunteers from all districts are attending the training programme at party headquarters Trikuta Nagar here on Monday, marking the commencement of the party’s National Health Volunteer campaign.

    Manyal said the campaign was started by the BJP to handle Covid-affected people and prepare for better management in case a possible COVID-19 third wave hits the country.

    After completion of their training, the volunteers would move back to their headquarters and train already-identified volunteers to cover all villages, he said.

    The BJP leader said expert doctors would be providing training to the volunteers regarding early detection of COVID-19 cases, awareness, sanitisation, vaccination and treatment incase a patient is found positive.

    “The volunteers will be provided a pulse oximeter, thermal scanner, a thermometer, a kit of immunity boosting drugs long with a guide booklet containing all information regarding COVID-19,” he said.

    The volunteers would be working in their respective areas and will help the people if at all any cases of Covid are detected in their village, Manyal said, adding that these volunteers would be working to assist and help the administration and will not be treating or giving any medicine to the affected people.

  • BJP ally Apna Dal demands caste-based census, separate ministry for OBC welfare

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: With an eye on the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections next year, the BJP’s ally Apna Dal(S) on Sunday demanded a separate Union ministry for the welfare of the OBC and a caste-based census across the country to ascertain the exact population of the community.

    Apna Dal(S), an Uttar Pradesh-based party, is the second ally of the ruling BJP after the JD(U) which has raised the demand for a caste-based census.

    The demand assumes significance just months before the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, where the single largest chunk of voters belongs to the OBC category.

    “Caste-based census is the need of the hour to ascertain the exact population of each segment, especially the other backward class (OBC),” the working president of Apna Dal(S) Ashish Patel told PTI.

    He said the population of SC and ST have been calculated in all censuses post-Independence but not of the OBCs.

    “As a result, there is no proper estimate of the OBC population. Therefore, I request the government that the next census should be caste-based to ascertain the exact population of each segment, especially the OBCs.”

    “This would ensure that the share of a particular caste segment is based on their population,” said Ashish Patel, the husband of Union Minister Anupriya Patel.

    He said the party also demands that there should be a separate ministry for the welfare of the OBCs.

    “On the lines of the Union Ministry for Minority Affairs, there should be a separate and dedicated ministry for the welfare of the OBCs,” Ashish Patel said.

    Apna Dal(S) has been a constituent of the NDA since 2014.

    Anupriya Patel, the daughter of the party’s founder late Sonelal Patel, was made Union minister in recent cabinet expansion of the Narendra Modi government.

    She hails from the Kurmi caste which falls in the OBC segment. Her party has influence in around 50 assembly seats, mostly in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

    Besides different political parties, the National Commission for Backward Classes in April this year had urged the government to collect data on the population of OBCs as part of the Census of India 2021 exercise.

    The Union Home Ministry had in 2018 had envisaged collecting data on OBCs for the first time in the 2021 census.

    However, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanad Rai, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on March 10 this year, said that after Independence, India decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise population other than that of the SCs and STs In the census, the castes and tribes that are specifically notified as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as per the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, are enumerated.

    The 2021 census was scheduled to start from April last year but couldn’t take off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Women biggest beneficiaries of Modi govt’s welfare schemes: BJP Mahila Morcha national president Vanathi Srinivasan

    By PTI

    PANAJI: Women are the biggest beneficiaries of various welfare schemes launched by the Narendra Modi government, a BJP office-bearer said here on Sunday.

    BJP Mahila Morcha national president Vanathi Srinivasan also said that the BJP was the only national party working committedly to ensuring women empowerment.

    Srinivasan on Sunday addressed a meeting of the Goa Pradesh BJP Mahila Morcha in Panaji in the presence of state unit chief Sadanand Shet Tanavade.

    “Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, women are the biggest beneficiaries of many schemes launched by his government. Whenever our Prime Minister contemplates launching a new initiative, he thinks about women empowerment. Under his government, we have 11 women ministers in the Central cabinet.

    Our daughters are winning medals for this country,” she said.

    Srinivasan said the BJP provides 33 percent reservation to women but more importantly the party rewards honest and hard-working cadres irrespective of gender.

    “We speak about 33 percent reservation to women but when we work strongly and contribute largely to the party, this 33 percent is not just limited to this point. Party won’t see if it’s a man or a woman candidate. Ultimately, the party looks for a winnable candidate, ” Srinivasan said.

  • TMC alleges 2 youth leaders injured in attack by BJP in Tripura, saffron party denies charge

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: The Trinamool Congress on Saturday alleged that two of its youth leaders from West Bengal were injured when their vehicle was allegedly attacked by BJP activists in Tripura’s Dhalai district.

    Following the incident, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who is West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and the de facto number 2 in the party, said that he will visit Tripura on Sunday.

    Denying the allegation, the BJP claimed that the TMC is a non-factor in Tripura, and West Bengal’s ruling party is spreading the “virus of political violence” in the northeastern state, where “outsiders” are fomenting trouble.

    Police said that two persons were attacked by a group of unidentified miscreants at Ambassa and their vehicle was partly damaged.

    TMC spokesperson Debangshu Bhattacharya alleged that party leaders Sudip Raha and Jaya Dutta were injured in an attack by BJP workers in Ambassa while they were on their way to Dharmanagar in North Tripura 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 reporters.

    Shortly after the incident, BJP and TMC supporters faced off and staged road blockades 500 m apart on National Highway 8, prompting the police to fire tear gas shells to disperse the mob and bring the situation under control.

    The road blockades forced Chief Minister Biplab Deb to take a detour while returning to Agartala after attending some inauguration programmes in Dharmanagar.

    TMC workers led by Subal Bhowmik, a former vice-president of Tripura BJP who recently switched sides, were protesting the alleged ransacking of a TMC party office by saffron party workers in Batarasi area of Dharmanagar on Friday night.

    Police detained Bhowmik and some other TMC workers, and cleared the road.

    “Our party office was damaged by BJP-backed goons. When we staged the road blockade, police treated us like miscreants,” Bhowmik told reporters.

    Condemning the alleged attack on the youth leaders in Ambassa, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said that the incident shows that there is “goonda raj” (lawlessness) in Tripura.

    “The GOONS of @BJP4Tripura have shown their TRUE COLOURS! This barbaric attack on Trinamool workers reveals the ‘GOONDA RAJ’ in #Tripura under @BjpBiplab’s Govt. ! Your threats and attacks only prove your inhumanity. DO WHAT YOU CAN! Trinamool will not budge an INCH!,” the Diamond Harbour MP, displaying photographs of the injured persons and the vehicle, tweeted.

    “Tomorrow, I am coming to #Tripura to stand by every Trinamool worker who were brutally attacked by @BJP4Tripura goons today. It is my promise that I shall continue fighting till the very last drop of my blood. STOP ME IF YOU CAN @BjpBiplab!,” he said in another Twitter post.

    This will be Banerjee’s second visit to the northeastern state in seven days.

    His convoy was also attacked allegedly by BJP workers during his previous visit on August 2.

    West Bengal TMC general secretary Kunal Ghosh said that the attack on “young boys and girls” shows that the BJP is scared.

    Ghosh said that he will visit Tripura on Sunday.

    Attacking the Tripura chief minister, West Bengal minister Bratya Basu tweeted: “The brutality with which @BjpBiplab has greeted Trinamool workers in the state, shows how frightened he is of any voice that dares to oppose his TYRANNY! But guess what, Mr.

    Deb? Our fight for the people of #Tripura will not stop.

    We will continue standing up for them!” Denying the BJP’s role in the alleged attack on TMC workers, the party’s Tripura unit spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya said, “Why should our party workers attack TMC activists? The party is no threat to us.

    The TMC does not have the strength to even win a seat in panchayat elections.”

    “We are not worried about the TMC in Tripura. Our CM is a tolerant person, which is why he took a detour to avoid any untoward incident,” Bhattacharya told PTI.

    West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said, “The TMC is instigating violence in Tripura. They are staging a drama.

    No one gives much importance to the TMC in the northeastern state.”

    West Bengal BJP vice-president Jayprakash Majumdar alleged that the TMC is “spreading the virus” of political violence in peaceful Tripura, where “outsiders” are fomenting trouble.

    Condemning the alleged attack on the TMC youth leaders, CPI(M) West Bengal state committee leader Sujan Chakraborty said, “There is jungle raaj in Tripura, where the BJP is attacking its political rivals.

    After attacking CPI(M) and other Left Front activists in Tripura, the BJP has now trained its guns on the TMC. We condemn any attack.”

    He, however, also took a dig at the TMC, saying, “CPI(M) activists have come under attack in both Tripura and West Bengal in the last couple of years by the BJP and the TMC respectively.

    When our workers were attacked in the northeastern state, TMC had never protested.”