News Analysis India

Tag: Tripura

  • Tripura Congress chief Pijush Kanti quits party citing ‘personal reasons’

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) acting president Pijush Kanti Biswas on Saturday quit the party and announced his retirement from politics. The veteran leader said that personal reasons prompted him to tender his resignation.

    Taking to Twitter, he wrote, “With sincere gratitude I thank all Congress Leaders, supporters for your cooperation during my tenure as TPCC president (acting). Today I have resigned from the post of president and retired from politics as well. My sincere gratitude towards Hon’ble CP Smt. Sonia Gandhiji.”

    With sincere gratitude I thank all Congress Leaders, supporters for your cooperation during my tenure as TPCC President (acting). Today I have resigned from the post of President and retired from politics as well. My sincere gratitude towards Hon’ble CP Smt. Sonia Gandhiji.
    — Pijush Kanti Biswas (@sradvbiswas) August 21, 2021
    Biswas said that he has already forwarded his resignation letter to All India Congress Committee (AICC) supremo Sonia Gandhi and party’s senior leader Rahul Gandhi. Talking to reporters, he said, “The reasons are not to be disclosed. I can only say that I resigned due to personal reasons. I have no plan of joining any other party.”

    Biswas, a senior advocate of the Tripura high court, was made Tripura Congress unit’s acting president in 2019. A former TPCC chief, on the condition of anonymity, however, said Biswas was asked to resign by the grand old party’s central leaders.

  • Tripura BJP MLA asks workers to attack Trinamool Congress leaders in ‘Talibani style’

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: A ruling BJP MLA in Tripura, Arun Chandra Bhowmik, has stoked a controversy by allegedly saying that his party activists should counter Trinamool Congress leaders in “Talibani style” if they land at Agartala airport.

    The saffron camp, however, said it is the MLA’s version and not that of the BJP.

    With an eye on the Tripura Assembly polls in 2023, TMC leaders, including its national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, are visiting the hilly state frequently to try and build a base and an organisation for the party which till now has been confined to West Bengal.

    “The TMC is trying to harm the Biplab Kumar Deb-led government in Tripura that came to power by ending the 25-year-long Communist rule. All these are happening due to the instigation of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,” the legislator who represents Belonia constituency said.

    Bhowmik made this remark Wednesday during a felicitation ceremony for newly inducted Union minister of state for Social Justice and Empowerment, Pratima Bhowmik at Belonia old town hall in South Tripura district.

    “I appeal to all of you that we need to attack them in Talibani style. We need to attack them once they land at the airport here. We will protect our government led by Biplab Kumar Deb with every drop of blood,” he said.

    A video clip of his comments went viral on the social media inviting wide criticism. Reacting to his remarks, Tripura TMC leader Subal Bhowmik demanded the BJP MLA’s arrest. “West Bengal TMC leaders were harassed last night at a private hotel in Agartala where they are staying. The incident happened after the MLA made this provocative remark,” he claimed.

    BJP Tripura chief spokesperson Subrata Chakraborty said the comment made by Bhowmik is exclusively his own and the party does not take any responsibility. “It is entirely his responsibility. This is not the culture of BJP,” Chakraborty told PTI.

    When contacted, Bhowmik said he had made the remark as an example to justify how to counter the TMC seriously. “I used the word ‘Talibani’ to make it clear that the way the Trinamool Congress is trying to harm the BJP government in Tripura, it needs a strong reaction. Use of the word ‘Talibani’ might have sent a wrong message, but my intention was just to narrate how to counter them seriously,” the BJP legislator said.

    Clashes between the TMC and the BJP have been reported from Tripura over the past few weeks. On his first visit, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s convoy was allegedly attacked by BJP workers in Tripura on August 3.

    The TMC had claimed that two of its youth leaders from West Bengal sustained injuries after being attacked by BJP workers in Dhalai district of the north-eastern state on August 7. The TMC alleged that two of its MPs -Dola Sen and Aparupa Poddar – were attacked twice by BJP supporters in South Tripura district on Independence Day.

    However, the saffron party has denied the allegations, saying the TMC posed no threat to them in the state.

  • Trinamool Congress wants Tripura; rivals ask how it will manage to make inroads 

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: Encouraged by a landslide victory in West Bengal’s assembly elections held earlier this year, Trinamool Congress is now eying BJP-ruled Tripura where the party feels it can make strong headway in the next assembly elections slated for early 2023.

    A host of TMC leaders including its national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee have been flying into Tripura to try and build a base and an organisation for the party which till now has been confined to Bengal.

    The space ceded by the Left parties and Congress and the hope that the electorate is unsatisfied with status quo seems to have prompted the TMC to try and make inroads.

    Its leaders in their appearance in the Northeastern state are trying out the tactics similar to BJP’s in West Bengal elections — reiterating that they will be able to capture power with ease, that law and order has collapsed in the state, employment generation is at a low ebb and that the ruling BJP workers have unleashed a reign of terror.

    The TMC rallies and programmes have been repeatedly targeted by a bunch of people whom the party alleges are ‘BJP sheltered goons’, though the charges have been denied by BJP.

    Banerjee and his convoys have been attacked at least thrice.

    Two MPs of the party from West Bengal – Dola Sen and Aparupa Poddar were also attacked on Independence Day in South Tripura district.

    TMC, observers say, may get some mileage and sympathies for the attacks, but to be able to translate this into votes, will have to build an organisation which till now is nascent.

    Banerjee and TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh have been targeting leaders and workers fromBJP, especially former Congressmen within BJP, and CPM to woo them into the party fold. It is to be seen how far this attempt will be successful.

    However, till now the number leaders who have crossed over have been few and far between.

    An ex-MLA from the Congress, Subal Bhowmick, who later joined BJP and again returned to Congress, and a former Congress minister Prakash Das have been among those few.

    Banerjee has however optimistically said that by the end of December, committees would be formed in all booths of the state.

    BJP Tripura unit on August 13 observed ‘Dhikkar Diwas’ (Condemnation Day) to protest against what it calls a conspiracy by the Trinamool Congress to create an ‘anarchic situation’ in the state.

    Tripura BJP chief spokesperson Subrata Chakraborty is obviously not amused.

    Chakraborty contends that TMC, a regional party in Bengal is trying to get the tag of a national party, by trying to foray into Tripura. To be a national party it requires at least six percent of the national vote.

    His colleague, Tripura BJP General Secretary Tinku Roy feels the Trinamool leaders are not in sync with the state’s politics.

    A feeling which TMC leaders used to echo about BJP leaders visiting Bengal ahead of the elections.

    “They stay at posh hotels and stage dramas one after another. They don’t even have a basic idea of Tripura’s geography”.

    He had also lashed out at the “Khela Hobe” slogan and said the most important democratic process cannot be compared with a game.

    The TMC has had no electoral presence in Tripura since its inception in 1998.

    In 2016, six Congress MLAs led by former TPCC President Sudip Roy Barman had however defected to the party.

    These MLAs later joined BJP ahead of the 60-member assembly elections held in 2018 on the plea that they received no support from Mamata Banerjee’s party during their crisis.

    The TMC filed nominations in 24 seats in the 2018 assembly elections, but could not win a single seat and secured a mere 0.3 percent vote share.

    The BJP, which won the election with 36 seats and 43. 59 per cent vote share, formed the government, while the CPIM, which had ruled the state for around 25 years, got 16 seats despite a 42 per cent vote share.

    The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (IPFT), which has now allied with the BJP, won eight seats.

    The state elections were fought largely between the Left Front and the BJP-IPFT alliance.

    The Congress, which was the main opposition, crumbled as its support base was cannibalised by BJP in the last assembly elections.

    However, to complicate matters, a newly emerged Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA), led by former state Congress president Pradyot Kishore Deb Barman, has come into the political jigsaw of the border state.

    Deb Barman, who was the state unit president of Congress, quit the party in September 2019, citing differences with the high command.

    A month later, he announced the name of his new outfit — TIPRA, which was initially a social organisation but in 2020, was turned into a political party.

    TIPRA surprisingly swept the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) elections in the first half of April this year by winning 18 of the 28 seats that went to the polls when the BJP won nine seats and one seat was bagged by an Independent candidate.

    TIPRA’s support obviously is the prize that many would try and gain given the electoral mathematics.

    TMC too is apparently trying to do just that.

    The WB General Secretary of TMC Kunal Ghosh recently met the Chairman of the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) Pradyot Kishore Debbarma.

    Thugh the leaders said that it was just a courtesy visit and no talks on forging analliance ahead the next elections were discussed, speculation remains rife.

  • Committed to double farmers’ income by 2025: Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Sunday said his government is committed to double the income of farmers in the state by 2025 and has taken several initiatives for the purpose.

    Addressing a programme on the occasion of the 75th Independence Day, he said the government has brought 4,000 hectares of land under organic farming in the current fiscal and the average income of farmers has reached Rs 11,096 per annum from Rs 6,580 in 2015-16.

    “We are committed to double our farmers’ income by 2025 and have taken several initiatives for this,” the chief minister said after hoisting the Tricolour at the Assam Rifles ground here.

    He also stated that the government has introduced a mission for the commercialisation of jackfruit and pineapple.

    “We have initiated a plan to bring 3,600 hectares of land for commercial production of jackfruit and pineapple as there is huge scope for exporting the fruits abroad,” he said.

    In the last 3 years, the state shipped out 33.65 metric tonne of pineapple to foreign countries.

    Tripura Agar Wood Policy 2021 was announced in July, and 50 lakh saplings will be planted by the next five years, which will help earn Rs 2,000 crore from the sector by 2025, Deb said.

    The government has also planned to expand areas under rubber cultivation.

    “About 30,000 hectares of land would be brought under rubber cultivation by 2025,” he said.

    An agreement was signed among the Centre and the governments of Tripura and Mizoram in January 2020 to solve the 23 -year-old ‘Bru refugee’ problem.

    According to the agreement, 37,136 displaced Brus from Mizoram will be rehabilitated at 12 places of Tripura, Deb said.

    The central government has sanctioned Rs 600 crore as a rehabilitation package for the displaced Brus.

    The CM said the ‘Moitree Bridge’ on the Muhuri river has been completed to strengthen the connectivity with Bangladesh.

    The 15-km long Agartala-Akhaura rail line to connect with the neighbouring country would be completed soon, he added.

  • BJP organises rallies, meetings across Tripura to protest TMC’s ‘conspiracy to create trouble’

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: The Tripura unit of the ruling BJP on Friday observed ‘Dhikkar Diwas’ (Condemnation Day) in protest against the alleged conspiracy hatched by the Trinamool Congress to “foment trouble” in the state.

    The state unit of the saffron camp’s yuva morcha (youth wing) and mahila morcha (women’s front) organised rallies and meetings in all 60 assembly constituencies of the state during the day as it sought to expose TMC’s attempt to spread “false information”, party leader Nabadal Banik told reporters here.

    “The TMC workers are trying to create anarchy in the state. On August 7, they alleged that two of their leaders from West Bengal were attacked by our men at Ambassa in Dhalai district. There was no such attack on them, and our workers were not involved in any clash,” Banik, who is also the party’s yuva morcha president in the state, asserted.

    Subrata Chakraborty, the BJP’s Tripura spokesperson, said Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has “issued a false statement”, stating that the TMC leaders who were allegedly injured in Ambassa were not given food and water in police custody.

    “I have video footage where they are seen being given food and water. The TMC is deliberately trying to create law and order problem so that the fruits of development do not reach common people,” he maintained.

    Chakraborty said the decision to organise ‘Dhikkar Diwas’ was taken by the state committee of the party as it condemns the ways and means adopted by the TMC to expand its base.

    As part of the its plan to get a national tag, the TMC is trying to gain foothold in Tripura, ahead of the 2023 assembly polls in the northeastern state, the saffron camp spokesperson said.

    “The TMC is trying to foment trouble and fish in troubled waters. They have hatched a conspiracy…Under the leadership of Bratya Basu (TMC leader and West Bengal minister), who is the writer of the script, TMC workers and leaders staged a drama in the state,” he added.

    Meanwhile, Basu, who is in Tripura, said he would keep visiting the state from time to time, and ensure that the TMC wins the next assembly elections.

  • Atrocities on Tripura TMC workers to have repercussions in Delhi: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Asserting that the Trinamool Congress will overcome opposition from the BJP and win the assembly elections in Tripura, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday warned of repercussions in Delhi if there are atrocities against TMC workers in the northeastern state.

    At least 14 leaders and workers of the TMC, including those injured in an alleged attack by BJP workers, were arrested in Tripura’s Khowai district on August 8 for “violating Covid norms”.

    Senior TMC leaders from West Bengal are of late visiting the NE state where the assembly election is due in 2023.

    Claiming that around 2 lakh people owing allegiance to the BJP had come to West Bengal from outside the state and even from abroad during the assembly election held earlier this year, Banerjee wondered why TMC leaders cannot go to Tripura which is ruled by the saffron party.

    “We will certainly go and win the election in Tripura.

    The fight in Tripura will continue,” Banerjee, also the TMC supremo, said.

    “If there are atrocities in Tripura, its repercussions will be felt in Delhi,” she said without elaborating.

    Banerjee was talking to reporters after visiting injured TMC workers, who had been flown to Kolkata for treatment from Tripura, at a state-run hospital in Kolkata.

    Accusing the BJP of running an anarchic government in the NE state, she claimed that the Biplab Deb dispensation does not allow any voice of opposition to it.

    In a not so veiled threat of a tit for tat against the BJP, the chief minister said, “If they think that by registering an FIR, they will arrest them (TMC leaders) when they land there, they (BJP government) must remember that we also have the law in our hands here.

    We don’t want to apply it and hope that charity begins at home.

    ” The Tripura Police on Tuesday registered FIRs against TMC all India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, minister Bratya Basu and other senior leaders of the party for allegedly preventing government servants from discharging their duties at Khowai police station on August 8.

    Abhishek Banerjee, who is the West Bengal CM’s nephew and the de facto number 2 in the party, and others had gone to the police station to meet the apprehended TMC workers.

    The TMC supremo said that state Education Minister Bratya Basu will go to Tripura on Friday.

    The Tripura Police had also arrested some TMC workers from West Bengal on various charges.

    They were later granted bail by a district court in Tripura.

    Claiming that the BJP government in the northeastern state was indulging in atrocities there, Banerjee said, “I want to ask the (Union) Home Minister (Amit Shah) what is he going to do now? How many human rights teams, tribal commission, women’s commission teams have gone there and how many cases have been filed in courts?” A committee formed by the National Human Rights Commission on the instruction of the Calcutta High Court had visited West Bengal last month to probe allegations of violations of human rights during post-poll violence in the state.

    Those who went to talk to officials at the police station were arrested as if they are criminals while those who attacked TMC workers in Tripura are roaming freely, the chief minister claimed.

    To a question on the Election Commission seeking views of political parties on holding assembly by-polls in Covid time, she said, “We will inform (the EC)”.

    Seven assembly seats are lying vacant in West Bengal due to deaths of candidates or resignation of MLAs.

    A TMC parliamentary party delegation met the EC in Delhi last month to press for its demand for holding by-polls to the vacant assembly seats in the state at the earliest.

    The TMC is keen on the by-elections as Banerjee, who lost the assembly election from Nandigram, will have to get elected within six months to continue as the chief minister.

    In that case, the by-polls must be conducted by November 5.

    The by-elections are due in the constituencies of Khardah, Gosaba, Shantipur, Jangipur, Samserganj, Dinhata and Bhabanipur.

    Banerjee is expected to file nomination from Bhabanipur in Kolkata, which was vacated by winning TMC candidate Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, days after the results were declared.

    Banerjee said that she will get a CT scan done of her leg which was injured during campaigning for the West Bengal assembly elections in March.

    The chief minister also visited her ailing sister at the state-run hospital.

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  • Jungle raj prevailing in Tripura: TMC leader Kunal Ghosh

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: General secretary of West Bengal unit of Trinamool Congress, Kunal Ghosh on Monday said that jungle raj is prevailing in Tripura where law and order has collapsed and peoples’ voices are choked.

    People will defeat the BJP-led government in Tripura in the next assembly election and the TMC will form a development oriented government in the state, he told a press conference.

    “Jungle raj is prevailing in the state where law and order has completely collapsed. People’s voices are choked and even the freedom of press is at stake,” he said.

    He alleged that after the attack on the convoy of TMC’s All India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on August 2 on the way to Tripureswari temple in Tripura no one was arrested.

    “Police had arrested our leaders, who were attacked and injured by goons sheltered by BJP at Ambassa on Saturday. But not a single person was arrested from BJP. Abhishek Banerjee had flown them to Kolkata on Sunday for treatment,” he said.

    He alleged that police and administration are not functioning properly in Tripura as they have been converted to ”political slaves of BJP” or else they would have arrested the culprits who had attacked Banerjee’s convoy and injured TMC activists and leaders at Ambassa.

    An undeclared emergency is on in Tripura which only shows that BJP government will not be allowed by the people to return to power.

    Ghosh said, “We had forced CPI-M to draw a blank in West Bengal assembly election and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was visiting Bengal like a daily passenger from Delhi to campaign for BJP, had to return empty handed. This time TMC will form the government in Tripura as we are receiving overwhelming response from the people.”

    The next assembly election in Tripura is due in February 2023.

    Ghosh said the people of Tripura have seen the rules of Congress, CPI-M and BJP.

    “Let them try TMC for once – see whether good governance is delivered or not.

    “The overwhelming response that we are getting from common people against BJP and welcoming TMC, I have no doubt that ghash phool (the flower in TMC’s symbol) will bloom in Tripura,” he said.

    Taking a jibe at National Human Rights Commission, Ghosh said it visited West Bengal frequently before the recent assembly elections and they should also come to Tripura to see for themselves that ‘rule of jungle’ is prevailing here.

    He also criticised Tripura Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya for not giving any time to TMC delegation.

    “The governor’s office said he is busy till August 15. We wanted to meet him in a small group and submit a memorandum. But what is happening in West Bengal is amazing. Its governor is meeting 50 opposition MLAs violating COVID-19 restrictions,” Ghosh added.

  • If attacks on TMC men in Tripura do not stop, Bengal BJP members to face consequences: Ex-MLA Udayan Guha

    TMC leader Udayan Guha kicked up a fresh storm as he said that saffron camp members may not be able to reside peacefully in the locality.

  • Lawyer attacked by Tripura mob for reporting cattle transport on overloaded trucks

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: A lady lawyer from Delhi, who works in the field of cruelty to animals, has filed a complaint to the police that she was attacked by a mob in Tripura’s Sipahijala district after she reported a case in which cattle were transported on overloaded trucks in the state.

    The lawyer, Shreya Aggarwal, alleged that her vehicle was vandalised in front of policemen near Routhkhala, a village close to the Indo-Bangladesh border, by the mob on Saturday and she managed to flee from the area.

    She had reported to the police that she found two vehicles overloaded with cattle and led the law enforcers to the spot, following which the incident occurred, Agarwal said on Sunday.

    The police are tightlipped about the issue and just said investigations are on.

    “A complaint has been lodged at Bishalagarh police station in connection with the incident under charges of rioting, unlawful assembly, assault, criminal intimidation, negligent behaviour which can lead to the spread of infectious disease (Covid-19), outraging the modesty of a woman,” Agarwal told reporters.

    The lawyer, who came to Tripura in connection with a case, alleged that on her way to the High Court of Tripura, she spotted the two trucks overloaded with cattle.

    Agarwal said she went to the Bishalgarh police station and asked the police to accompany her to Routhkhola village where the vehicles were parked and the cattle were unloaded.

    When a team of police personnel along with the lawyer reached the spot, around 100 people gheraoed her vehicle and hurled abusive words to her and her associates in front of the police, she alleged.

    Her car was also vandalised, though she somehow managed to run away from the spot, Agarwal claimed.

    According to the complaint, it was a spot where international smugglers assemble cattle.

  • 12 TMC activists arrested in Tripura for violating COVID norms

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: At least 12 leaders and workers of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), including those injured in an alleged attack by BJP workers on the previous day, were arrested in Tripura’s Khowai district on Sunday for “violating COVID norms”, police said.

    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, reached Agartala and left for Khowai to meet the arrested party workers, who will be produced before a court amid tight security arrangements.

    Police said that the 12 TMC members were arrested for violating COVID restrictions by travelling after the imposition of night curfew at 7 pm.

    Tripura TMC spokesperson Ashish Lal Singh said that party leaders including himself, Debangshu Bhattacharya, Tania Poddar, Sudip Raha and Jaya Dutta have been 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 through 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 that the TMC members were arrested for violating COVID restrictions.

    Meanwhile, three senior TMC leaders, including Abhishek Banerjee, West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu and Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen, reached Agartala and left for Khowai to meet the arrested members.

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

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

    Denying the involvement of its activists in the attack, 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.

    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 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.

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