Party worker’s elderly mother attacked in Tripura’s Mohanpur, CPI(M) calls it ‘pre-poll violence by BJP supporters’ in letter to EC

In his letter to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, Tripura CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhary wrote, “Only a day after the announcement of the Lok Sabha election by the Commission, a fatal attack was carried out on an octogenarian lady namely Smt Milan Bala Deb; only because she happens to be the mother of CPI(M) leader Sri Raman Deb, at Gangagatipur, (under 2-Mohanpur Assembly constituency) at 7.00 in the evening on 18th March, 2024.”

His letter also accused four persons — Ranjan Debnath, Ranjit Debnath, Parimal Debnath and Dhiman Debnath — whom he claimed to be “BJP workers”, to have “chased” Raman Deb, a member of CPI(M)’s Mohanpur Sub-Divisional Committee secretariat body, with a “lethal weapon” in front of his house.

“…. (When) the mother and wife of Raman Deb came forward to his rescue, the accused hit her (mother) on the head, causing profuse bleeding and hospitalisation,” the statement reads.

According to the CPI(M), Raman Deb lodged an FIR at the Sidhai Police Station immediately after the incident. However, the Communist party claimed the police did not take any initiative to arrest the accused yet.

“(This is) because all the accused belong to ruling BJP workers in the area. It is unfortunate that this saddening and inhuman attack on an aged lady has taken place when MCC is enforced and sufficient security forces have been deployed in various parts of the state,” Chaudhury, who earlier served as a Member of Parliament himself, said.

He sought the ECI to “direct the appropriate police authority” to arrest the accused persons urgently and ensure that the accused are kept detained till the end of the ongoing poll.

‘Threat from Pradyot’

Meanwhile, the state CPI(M) authorities took to social media and posted clips of a joint campaign by TIPRA Motha founder Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma and former Chief Minister and BJP Lok Sabha candidate Biplab Kumar Deb held on Monday. In the clip, the royal scion-turned-politician is purportedly heard saying, “It would become hard for CPIM and Congress party workers to come out of their homes after this election” and appealed to Opposition party supporters to join the BJP-TIPRA Motha-IPFT combine.

“CPIM leaders’ family attacked by BJP hooligans at Mohanpur within 24 hours of threat from Pradyot,” the communist party wrote in the social media post.

On the issue, BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya said, “The police will do their work based on complaints, if any. There are officials of the Election Commission. They will work as per law”.

While no comment was available from the police about the case, Tripura Chief Electoral Officer’s official Facebook account was seen to have taken cognizance of the CPI(M) social media post, where the CEO’s official account tagged DM and Collector of West Tripura along with West Tripura District Police and wrote, “..Please enquire into the matter immediately and take necessary action accordingly”.