Tripura governor urged to act against BJP minister who linked Opposition to ‘Islamic terrorists’

“Such types of extremely divisive and inciting communal remarks to divide and push society towards communal instability, particularly when attempted by a responsible person like a member of the state cabinet, who has taken an oath to obey, safeguard, and uphold the holy constitution and constitutional spirits, values, and mandates, including secularism as one of the basic salient features of the same, do not only amount to his or her unconstitutional, unethical, and unjust activity, but it also obviously and undoubtedly amounts to an activity of criminal nature.”

Chaudhury wrote that the minister had made similar comments in the past, reflecting his “habitually unconstitutional and criminal mindset”.

“Any element with such a nasty and criminal mindset should not be allowed to continue as part and parcel of any democratic government in India or in any of its provincial governments, set up under the framework of the secular constitution of the country,” he wrote.

“I am requesting your kind and prompt intervention into the matter, so that elements of such unconstitutional and criminal mindset may not burden your good government, and the people of all caste, creed, religion, language and communities of Tripura may feel themselves safe and secure in the good hands of your government,” the CPM leader wrote to the governor.

On March 12, Das wrote: “Aurangzeb had demolished hundreds of Hindu temples, mercilessly murdered hundreds of Hindus, Marathas and Sikhs, ninth Sikh Guru Teg Bahadur and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj for not accepting Islam. India’s Opposition Samajwadi Party, Congress and Left parties are associated with sinful ideologies equivalent to that of Islamic terrorists, dacoits, thieves, barbaric animals, just for the sake of getting the fundamentalist jihadi votes. Democratic citizens should understand the truth that they are so dangerous for the country.”

The Tripura Insaf Parishad, a Muslim organisation, has lodged a case against Sudhangshu Das at the Irani police station in Kailashahar, accusing him of fomenting communal hatred through social media and seeking legal action against him.

The TIPRA Motha, a ruling ally of the BJP, has criticised the minister’s comments. “Someone who is swearing on the constitution of India should refrain from making such statements. I am indeed shocked and condemn such language by anyone, let alone those who hold responsible positions in the government,” the party’s founder, Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, two days ago.

Veteran Congress MLA Birajit Sinha also protested against the comments. “…This is an effort to disturb peace and solidarity in the state and inciting tension by referring to whatever happened during the Mughal empire. Prior to this, he made similar comments on Facebook hurting Hindu-Muslim relations. He ought to focus on maintaining peace in the state as a responsible minister. The stuff he is speaking about on Facebook is highly sensitive. I feel these comments should be deleted from social media at any cost,” he said three days ago.

Sudhangshu Das had hit the headlines several times for his comments on social media.

In September last year, Das said Hindus should not worship their deities unless their “blood boils” at the incidents of attacks on Hindu idols in neighbouring Bangladesh, adding that a community that cannot save its deities and temples from “infidel jihadis (bidhormi jihadi)” should not be worshipping deities anymore.

This post was deleted afterwards but took the Assembly by storm as Opposition MLAs demanded he seek an apology in the House.

On November 21 last year, he trained guns at Chaudhury, alleging that Leftists under his leadership were trying to misguide people by bringing “trained salesmen” from Murshidabad in order to survive.

“The Leftists who were against India’s freedom, who were against democracy, those who insulted Rabindranath Tagore by calling him a bourgeois poet, insulted Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, those who taunted Swami Vivekananda by calling him mad/insane, those who were against Ram Mandir, those who were against Hindu sanatan heritage and culture. As I speak in favour of sanatan dharma, it’s natural that the Leftists, with their distorted mentality, will speak against me,” he wrote on Facebook.

On November 3 last year, he wrote that if Muslims have a Waqf Board, Hindus should be entitled to have a sanatan board and that other communities like Christians and Sikhs should have their boards as well. Otherwise all such boards should be disbanded, he added.